Equinor and SINTEF have agreed on a strategic collaboration in four key areas. The areas are offshore wind, marine systems, energy systems and modeling studies related to these areas.
SINTEF is Equinor’s biggest partner in the fields of research and technology development. Now, for the first time, the companies have entered into a strategic collaboration agreement.
The purpose of the agreement is to facilitate the exchange and development of ideas and radical solutions between the two partners. The companies will collaborate on projects that can provide good value creation and help Equinor’s transition to become a broad energy company.
One of the areas of collaboration is already well underway: offshore wind – particularly floating wind. Equinor has already built the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland, and is in the process of building Norway’s first floating farm, Hywind Tampen.
The offshore wind collaboration between Equinor and SINTEF dates back to the first test of the Hywind technology in SINTEF’s Ocean Basin Laboratory, in 2005. Looking forward, it will enable the development of technology that will make future projects cheaper, more efficient and more predictable. Among other things, the two partners will look at anchoring systems for the turbines, maintenance, control systems and grid connection.
In addition to improving the Hywind concept, the two partners will also examine other concepts for floating wind.