Power April 2022 Intl - 12

GLOBAL MONITOR
ported Norway-based Equinor's role in
advanced offshore
wind
technology;
Equinor expects to bring the 88-MW
Hywind Tampen (Figure 5), the world's
first floating wind farm to power an offshore
oil and gas platform, online this
year. The project will provide electricity
for the Snorre and Gullfaks offshore
field in the North Sea.
Norwegian officials have talked for
5. In the spring of 2021, 11 substructures for the Hywind Tampen floating wind farm were
transported from the Aker Solutions yard at Stord, Norway, where the first 20 meters were built,
to the deep-water site at Dommersnes, Norway, where the slip-forming work was to be continued
to 107.5 meters. The completed wind turbines are scheduled to be towed to Tampen in early
summer 2022 and offshore work is expected to be finished by the end of the year. Courtesy:
Equinor / Lars Melkevik - Aker Solutions
reducing the cost of floating wind, as
most of the best Norwegian resource
is in water too deep for fixed wind platforms,
and development of T&D [transmission
and distribution] infrastructure
tied into European power grid and markets.
Quite frankly, viability of offshore
wind often hinges on ease of project
development, and how much T&D infrastructure
is needed, and development
issues for that T&D. "
Connections to the European continent
that would drive more investment
are also seen as important for other
technological advancements. TotalEnergies,
a French company with a long history
in oil and gas that has transitioned
into renewable energy, is another group
interested in Norway's offshore wind
program, with plans to deploy advanced
technology. TotalEnergies recently said
it had selected Norway-based Semar's
Honeymooring solution (Figure 4) for
its offshore wind projects, which it said
was expected to reduce development
costs of TotalEnergies' future offshore
wind developments not just in Norway
but worldwide.
Floating wind turbines have removed
depth constraints from offshore projects,
but do bring a design challenge
related to reliable and cost-effective
mooring. The Honeymooring technology
connects floating wind turbines in
a " honeycomb " network, using established
mooring technology from the oil
12
and gas industry to create what Semar
calls a " more effective anchor-sharing
configuration. "
" Thanks to our longstanding experience
in the offshore oil and gas industry,
we know mooring systems very well,
and as we today have a large portfolio
of offshore wind projects, we are proud
to partner with Semar in the development
of the innovative Honeymooring
solution, which will contribute to lower
the cost and the environmental impact
of offshore wind energy, " Olivier Terneaud,
vice president of Offshore Wind at
TotalEnergies, said in a statement. Thor
Valsø-Jørgensen, CEO of Semar, said,
" We are proud to have TotalEnergies as
one of the important partners and contributors
in the development of the Honeymooring
solution. The overall project
is being lifted by their support and the
high-quality expertise which contribute
to keep all of us in the forefront of the
transformation towards green energy
for the future. "
Norway's Ministry of Petroleum and
Energy last summer acknowledged
" there is a big difference in the levels of
maturity between bottom-fixed offshore
wind technologies and floating wind.
The government believes that support
for technology development is the most
appropriate tool for developing floating
offshore wind solutions in Norway, as
demonstration projects may help to reduce
costs. " The government has supwww.powermag.com
years
about advancements in electricity
transmission, including the longdiscussed
North Sea Super Grid that
could provide high-voltage direct current
(HVDC) connections among several
offshore wind farms and onshore
grids. " For over a decade Norway and
other countries have been talking about
a high-voltage DC meshed super infrastructure
grid in North Sea to bring
wind power from its best resource to
Europe, " said Dikeman. " This was always
a great idea. While some infrastructure
has been laid, the North Sea
HVDC Super Grid has remained largely
talk. In that same time frame Russia
got Nord Stream 2 to Germany built.
Norway should be pulling out all the
stops to do the equivalent for subsea
wind transmission. "
In addition to holding auctions for
the rights to build in the Utsira Nord
and Sørlige Nordsjø II, the Ministry of
Petroleum and Energy said it would
commission the Norwegian Water Resources
and Energy Directorate (NVE)
to identify new areas for offshore wind
development, including preparing an
impact assessment program over the
next year. Dikeman said the country
should build transmission infrastructure
now, though, and not wait for projects
to be developed.
" Norway would be best served by
simply putting in place the T&D infrastructure
needed to supply Europe with
wind power now, without waiting for
projects, and simultaneously clearing
the road for development restrictions
on its offshore floating wind developments, "
he said. " Like the oil and gas
pipelines, whoever gets the T&D infrastructure
in first in the best route to
market, and streamlines upstream development,
wins the race. "
-Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
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Power April 2022 Intl

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