Floating Wind Turbines

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Massive Floating Wind Turbines Planned
Note the helicopter for scale

Statoil Plan Floating Wind Turbines

(Adapted from a press relaease published 2008-05-23)

StatoilHydro plan to build a large floating wind turbine – a world first. Named Hywind, it is a prototype that will be tested over a two-year period offshore Karmøy. Later the idea appears to build more on a massive scale (see photo).

The company is investing approximately €50 million, with a planned start-up in autumn 2009.

The “HyWind” is based on floating concrete constructions familiar from North Sea oil installations. The project combines known technology in an innovative way. A modest sized 2.3 MW wind turbine is attached to the top of a so-called Spar-buoy, a solution familiar from production platforms and offshore loading buoys.

The rotor blade diameter is 80 metres. The nacelle will be 65 metres above the sea surface. The floatation element will have a draft of some 100 metres below the sea surface, and will be moored to the seabed using three anchor points. The wind turbine can be located in waters with depths ranging from 120 to 700 metres.

The pilot project will be built in Åmøyfjorden near Stavanger; the test location is 10 Km offshore Karmøy. The wind turbine itself is by Siemens. Technip will build the floatation element and have responsibility for the installation offshore. Nexans will lay cables to shore, and Haugaland Kraft will be responsible for the landfall.

“Floating wind power is not mature technology yet, and the road to commercialisation and large scale development is long. An important aspect of the project is therefore research and development,” says a representative.

For further information contact:
Øistein Johannessen, Information Manager for New Energy, StatoilHydro,
tel. + 47 970 79 693



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