Aberdeen-headquartered firm Wood has agreed a multi-million pound deal with Equinor to support its plans to power North Sea oil and gas platforms with offshore wind.
The new contract – understood to be upwards of £20 million – will see Wood deliver modifications that will see the connection of floating wind turbines to two offshore assets in the Norwegian North Sea.
The firm’s 88MW Hywind Tampen wind farm aims to cut carbon emissions at Norway’s Snorre and Gullfaks fields by 200,000 tonnes by powering the installations.
The project, which is a global first, is a more than £400m investment by Equinor.
As part of the three-year deal Wood will provide the topside modifications necessary for the Snorre A and Gullfaks A platforms to integrate the Tampen floating wind park with existing systems powering the facilities.
The scope of work also includes equipment installation on the floating wind turbines and upgrades to the onshore control room in Bergen which will remotely operate the wind farm.
It is understood the project will involve 50 staff, working out of Wood’s offices in Stavanger and Sandefjord, Norway.
Dave Stewart, chief executive of Wood’s asset solutions business in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, said: “The Snorre A and Gullfaks A facilities will be the first oil and gas platforms to be powered by a floating offshore wind farm.
“We are proud to support Equinor on what is a flagship project for the North Sea’s energy transition journey.
“Wood is fully committed to applying our experience gained from decades of working in the region’s oil and gas industry to reduce the carbon intensity of offshore operations by modifying existing infrastructure.”
The Hywind Tampen project is scheduled to start production at the end of 2022.
Equinor built the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland, in 2017.
