INDUSTRY TRANSITION
Utsira Nord is the first floating wind project in Norway, and a potential springboard for a new industry era. Norwegian engineers are world leading within offshore installations and digital and sustainable solutions. A rapid development of Utsira Nord can bring Norway to a front-runner position in an exponentially growing international market. Utsira Nord can not only produce green energy, but create numerous new, green jobs and export opportunities across a broad value chain.
Through 180 years, Aker companies have created tens of thousands of Norwegian jobs, adapting to major market and technology transitions. For 125 years, Statkraft has been producing green electricity for Norwegian households and companies and is the leading European provider of renewable energy. Ocean Winds is the joint venture of global renewable giants, EDP Renewables and ENGIE, present in seven countries with fixed and floating offshore wind projects in all stages, from development to fully operating.
The combination of expertise from the three member of the consortium makes this an ideal partnership to develop floating offshore windfarms in Norwegian seas. We own and operate leading and field proven technology. At Utsira Nord, we are ready to further innovate, scale and industrialize to make floating wind a cost competitive source of green energy.
CREATION OF NEW, GREEN ENERGY FOR NORWAY
Norway needs more renewable energy, and floating wind has the potential to meet this increased energy demand many times over. The flexibility of floating wind makes it possible to position the wind farms far offshore and in areas with consistently strong winds. Close to 80 percent of wind resources in the world are in areas where the ocean is deeper than 60 meters.
Offshore Wind energy is one of the fastest growing renewable energy technologies. Its use is increasing worldwide, partly due to climate impact reduction objectives and falling costs. According to the latest figures from IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), global onshore and offshore wind capacity has increased almost 98-fold over the past two decades, from 7.5 gigawatts (GW) in 1997 to around 732 GW in 2020.
At Utsira Nord, winds are among the strongest and most consistent in Europe. Developing 1.5 GW of floating offshore wind at Utsira Nord will be an accelerator of Norwegian industry transition and supply new green energy to Norwegian households and industry.
INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Ocean Winds and Mainstream are the majority owners of steel-based semi-submersible floaters, named Windfloat™ and the world’s most proven technology for floating wind developed by Principle Power Inc. Ocean Winds is currently successfully operating this technology in Portugal with Wind Float Atlantic and about to start construction in France for its EFGL Leucate project, which signed FID at the beginning of 2022.
Windfloat™ is a semi-submersible steel foundation, formed by three steel floating structures anchored to each other to form a triangle. This is then anchored to the seabed by cables and will enable development in water depths which exceed 100m. These foundations have the advantage of installation by standard tugboat rather than requiring a specialist installation vessel.
The Principle Power Inc. floater technology reached its third generation – after WindFloat 1 (2MW) starting operation ten years ago and WindFloat Atlantic (25MW) from two years ago – the design of the EFGL floater holds significant improvements and new solutions. With such a long operational experience, it is now the most advanced floater technology and is ready for a full-scale commercial deployment.