Siemens Gamesa lands world’s largest floating wind power plant

Hywind Scotland is a hugely successful project with world-class safety performance

Scheduled to be commissioned in late 2022, Hywind Tampen will be the first-ever floating wind power plant to power offshore oil and gas platforms.

Hywind Tampen will have a total capacity of 88MW and be located some 140 kilometres from the shore in an area with water depths of 260-300 metres between the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas platforms.

Specifically, this wind power plant will be capable of meeting about 35 per cent of the annual power demand of these two platforms.

“We are pleased to have received the firm order from Equinor to be the supplier of this ground-breaking project. Thanks to our strong collaboration and joint focus on innovation, we are now at the forefront of developing this exciting technology and unlocking the vast potential for floating offshore wind power,” highlighted Andreas Nauen, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit.

By reducing the use of gas turbines on the fields, the project helps cut CO2 emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of 100,000 passenger cars.

The floating foundations in the Hywind Tampen project are ballast-stabilised and anchored to the seabed with mooring lines. With their lightweight nacelles, Siemens Gamesa large direct drive wind turbines are particularly suited for floating foundations.

The innovative partnership between Siemens Gamesa and Equinor dates back to 2009, when the world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine project, Hywind Demo, was successfully installed in Norway.

This initiative was followed in 2017 by the 30MW Hywind Scotland floating wind power plant, currently the world’s largest, installed at water depths between 90 and 120 metres.

Hywind Scotland is a hugely successful project which has world-class safety performance and the highest capacity factor of any offshore wind farm in the UK. The Hywind Tampen project continues this partnership, bringing industrial-scale floating wind a giant leap forward.

Offshore wind already has a strong foothold in Europe with close to 18.5GW installed capacity, and global potential to reach more than 100GW by 2030. Of this, floating offshore wind is estimated to constitute 10 per cent of the market, potentially powering 12 million homes in 2030.

Headquartered in Spain, Siemens Gamesa is a global leader in the wind power industry, with a strong presence in all facets of the business: offshore, onshore, and services.

The company's advanced digital capabilities enable it to offer one of the broadest product portfolios in the sector as well as industry-leading service solutions, helping to make clean energy more affordable and reliable.