Norway awards USD 192m to demo floating wind project

A 75-MW pilot floating wind project in the Barents Sea has secured NOK 2 billion (USD 191.6m/EUR 175.1m) in funding from the Norwegian government after winning a tender held by state agency Enova.

The GoliatVIND project was one of seven proposals considered by the technology funding agency in a competitive round for small-scale floating offshore wind projects, it announced on Friday. The successful project was put forward by Odfjell Oceanwind, Source Galileo Norge, and Kansai Electric Power Co.

To be installed 85 kilometres (52.8 miles) northwest of Hammerfest in Norway, GoliatVind will be built in water depths of 300 metres-400 metres to help electrify the Arctic town and nearby offshore oil and gas facilities. The wind farm will be equipped with five turbines of 15 MW each and will deploy Odfjell Oceanwind’s Deepsea Star semisubmersible foundation technology. Its annual output is expected to be 320 GWh, or enough to supply 12,000 Norwegian homes.

The wind farm will connect to an existing power supply cable linking the Goliat offshore oil platform back to shore.

Enova said a new round of applications for floating offshore wind is due to open this autumn.

(NOK 10 = USD 0.958/EUR 0.876)

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