Marine

Floating Statoil wind farm planned off coast of Peterhead

December 3, 2013 by Andronikos Kafas No Comments | Category Marine Directorate Science, Marine Renewables

© Statoil Hywind

The Hywind project will see the five turbines operate in waters several miles from land in a move towards creating an economically viable scheme. It comes after the Crown Estate granted an agreement to Norwegian firm Statoil. Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney has welcomed the deal, saying it was a step towards harnessing a big resource.Statoil senior vice president for renewable energy, Siri Espedal Kindem, said: “It represents a new step in the development towards a future floating commercial-scale park.”

Hywind in a nutshell:

• The tower is 65 metres high, supporting rotors 80 metres in diameter
• The floater has a draught of 100 metres, and is attached to the seabed by a three-point mooring spread
• Hywind is suitable for water depths of 120-700 metres
• The whole structure weighs 5,300 tonnes
• The pilot is to be tested over two years

In September 2009, Statoil installed a floating turbine 10 kilometres off Norway’s south-west coast. Its Hywind project supports a 2.3MW Siemens turbine and is in water depths of 200 metres.

Sources: BBC, Renewable Energy Magazine, StatOil

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