Statoil’s UK managing director said the Hywind project could become a “profitable leg” for the company as it looks to expand its renewables arm.
The company announced it had taken a final investment decision on plans to build the world’s largest offshore windfarm just a day after winning approval from the Scottish Government.
Tove Stuhr Sjoblom sat down with Energy Voice to discuss the next steps for the first of a kind project.
She said:”The real driver is the business case for this, we hope and we believe, this will be a business proposition.
“A profitable leg for our company to stand on into the future and also that this business decision is profitable for our country.”
The decision paves the way for investments of around NOK2billion, which represents a 60-70% cost reduction per MW from the Hywind demo project in Norway.
The scheme, which would be the world’s first floating wind farm, will be located off Scotland’s Peterhead coast.
The pilot park will cover around 4 square kilometres, at a water depth of 95-120 metres. The average wind speed in this area of the North Sea is around 10 metres per second.
Sjoblom said the project was a fantastic move not just for Statoil but “for Scotland”.
She added: “I think it’s very visionary and the big success is actually getting the cost down and getting the technology to work.
“If we can get this on a competitive cost level with other energy sources it can provide energy security for a lot of countries that need the energy supply locally but do not have sufficient space onshore for solar or wind or gas resources in country but need to import energy.
“This is an additional source of providing energy locally and also building a local industry.”
Offshore construction will likely begin next year, and a completion date has been set for 2017.
Construction comes after a six year study of a prototype installed off the island of Karmøy in Norway.
