Statoil to Build the World’s First Floating Wind Farm: Hywind Scotland

Statoil has made the final investment decision to build the world’s first floating wind farm:  The Hywind pilot park offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The decision triggers investments of around NOK 2 billion (US$238 million), realizing a 60-70% cost reduction per MW (compared to conventional offshore wind projects).

Statoil will install a 30 MW wind turbine farm on floating structures at Buchan Deep, 25 km (15.5 mi) offshore Peterhead, harnessing Scottish wind resources to provide renewable energy to the mainland.  The wind farm will power around 20,000 households.  Production start is expected in late 2017.

Statoil is proud to develop the world’s first floating wind farm.  Our objective with the Hywind pilot park is to demonstrate the feasibility of future commercial, utility-scale floating wind farms.  This will further increase the global market potential for offshore wind energy, contributing to realizing our ambition of profitable growth in renewable energy and other low-carbon solutions.

—Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions

The pilot park will cover around 4 square kilometers (1.5 sq mi), at a water depth of 95-120 meters.  The average wind speed in this area of the North Sea is around 10 meters per second (22.4 mph).

Read more at Statoil to Build the World’s First Floating Wind Farm:  Hywind Scotland