Wind energy – floating wind
Equinor has designed a new floating wind concept that will enable industrial standardisation and maximise opportunities for local supply chains.
Having reaffirmed its commitment to Scotland earlier this year, the offshore energy company has now revealed its preferred floating wind foundation design for full-scale gigawatt (GW) commercial floating offshore wind, if successful in ScotWind.
The Wind Semi, a semisubmersible wind turbine foundation, has been designed with flexibility, specifically to allow for fabrication and assembly based on local supply chain capabilities.
“We are ready to develop the next generation, large-scale commercial floating offshore wind in Scotland. By leveraging our twenty years of floating offshore wind experience and innovations, we plan to develop GW-size floating projects in one single phase. Implementing large-scale projects will accelerate Scotland’s energy transition to net zero. At 1GW, this project would be over 30 times bigger than Hywind Scotland, the UK’s and Equinor’s first floating project and have the potential to not only position Scotland as a leader in deepwater technology, but also create opportunities for both existing suppliers and new entrants to the offshore wind sector,” says Sonja C. Indrebø, Equinor’s vice president of Floating Offshore Wind.
To ensure that the technology can be deployed cost effectively whilst maximising local benefits, Equinor has developed a set of design principles and solutions that are applicable across floating concepts.
The Wind Semi has several features making it particularly suited for harsh waters, and solutions that can maximise the opportunities for the Scottish supply chain: increased dependability; a simpler, more robust design; flexibility towards the supply chain.