DEME Offshore has signed an agreement with Equinor, a world leading pioneer in floating wind power, to undertake a study examining potential floating concrete substructures for the planned Hywind Tampen wind farm project in the North Sea off Norway’s coast. With DEME Offhore’s market expertise and vast track record in the offshore renewables industry, the company aims to be at the forefront of developments relating to floating offshore wind technology. The agreement was signed early December 2018 with a five-month duration, and the study is a part of the engineering works before the final investment decision.
The scope of the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract is to mature and optimise the design and construction methodology for 11 concrete substructures including secondary steel outfitting, mooring arrangement and project executing strategy.
Equinor successfully commissioned the world’s first 30 MW, floating offshore wind farm in Scotland in 2017. Hywind Tampen is expected to be the world’s first offshore wind farm powering existing oil platforms. The wind farm will consist of 11, 8 MW turbines which will meet about 35% of the annual power demand of the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas platforms.
Bart De Poorter, General Manager DEME Offshore, comments: “At DEME Offshore we are confident that floating wind energy has the potential to play a key role in the future energy mix. With our vast track record in providing innovative solutions for the offshore energy market and our extensive EPCI experience in major offshore wind projects, we aim to be at the forefront of this emerging industry. The Hywind Tampen project is considered to be a milestone for the floating offshore wind industry and we are excited to be involved in this challenging project to further broaden our technological capabilities.”