Equinor reveals new floating offshore wind turbine design
Norway's state-owned energy firm Equinor has unveiled the design of a new floating wind concept that the company says will enable industrial standardisation and provide new opportunities for local supply chains.
In July, Equinor confirmed its bid for floating offshore wind for ScotWind, the Crown Estate Scotland programme which leases areas of the Scottish seabed for wind farm development. Now the company has unveiled its new design for the foundations of a full-scale gigawatt floating wind turbine dubbed The Wind Semi.
"We are ready to develop the next generation, large-scale commercial floating offshore wind in Scotland... We plan to develop GW-size floating projects in one single phase. Implementing large scale projects will accelerate Scotland’s energy transition to net zero.
"At 1GW, this project would be over 30 times bigger than Hywind Scotland, the UK’s and Equinor’s first floating project and have the potential to not only position Scotland as a leader in deep water technology but also create opportunities for both existing suppliers and new entrants to the offshore wind sector," said Sonja C. Indrebø, Equinor’s vice president of Floating Offshore Wind.
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The Wind Semi has several features which make it particularly suited for harsh waters, and solutions that can maximise the opportunities for the Scottish supply chain.
The introduction of a passive ballast system has, according to Equinor, simplified the substructure design, thus reducing the risk of system failure and the amount of maintenance.
"We asked ourselves how we can achieve industrial standardisation and maximise local content opportunities to create additional and sustainable long-term value from floating offshore wind projects. With a design-based approach we’ve used our experience and gone right back to basics to incorporate this focus in the initial concept design," said Indrebø.
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