World's largest floating wind farm opens in Norway today

Norwegian energy company Equinor and its partners are officially opening the world's largest offshore wind farm today, which uses floating wind turbines. The Hywind Tampen farm, with more than a dozen turbines, meets some of the energy needs of several nearby oil and gas platforms.

Floating wind power technology could become an important feature of the electricity mix in some regions in the future. Unlike conventional turbines, which are fixed to the seabed, it can enable offshore wind power generation in areas where the water is too deep for traditional fixed-bottom turbines. In this case, the turbines use floating foundations that are anchored to the seabed.

One such project is the floating wind farm Hywind Tampen, located in Norwegian waters in the North Sea. According to Reuters, the 11 floating turbines, with a total installed capacity of 88 MW, are expected to cover around a third of the electricity consumption of five oil and gas production platforms in the Snorre and Gullfaks fields, about 140 km off the country's coast.