Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway — Equinor has put the brakes on further development of the proposed Trollvind offshore wind initiative in the Norwegian North Sea.
The scheme was meant to address issues concerning electrification of oil and gas installations via floating offshore wind, while at the same time exporting a new source power to the Bergen area.
“Unfortunately, we no longer see a way forward to deliver on our original concept of having an operational wind farm well before 2030,” said Siri Espedal Kindem, vice president of renewables Norway.
The company identified various difficulties including non-availability of preferred technological solutions, a tight timetable for delivering on the original concept and rising costs. The scale of the cost increases meant that the project was no longer commercially sustainable in its current form, Equinor added.
Previously Equinor had said it was scaling back activity for the project due to technical, regulatory and commercial challenges.
The company remains committed to leading Norway’s nascent offshore wind industry, the vice president added, and would transfer Trollvind learnings to other projects such as floating offshore wind power at Utsira Nord in the North Sea and outside Norway.
05.22.2023
