Utsira Nord, Norway – A dynamic offshore wind consortium committed to advancing Norwegian renewable energy has been expanded. The UtsiraVIND Consortium, originated as a partnership between ODFJELL OCEANWIND, a market-leading Norwegian provider of floating offshore wind technologies and SOURCE GALILEO, a fast-growing European renewable energy platform, concentrating on offshore wind development.

Kjell Gievær, Director of Arctic Energy Partners and Gunnar Birkeland, CEO of Source Galileo Norge.

Source Galileo and Odfjell Oceanwind have partnered with Arctic Energy Partners to realise a pilot project for floating offshore wind at the Goliat platform in Northern Norway.

Odfjell Oceanwind’s floating wind foundation Deepsea Star™ has been selected for the GoliatVIND wind park located in the Barents Sea which is currently under planning. The project is being matured by a consortium consisting of Source Galileo and Odfjell Oceanwind and is aiming at installing three to five floating wind units, each carrying a 15MW wind turbine generator, with an earliest operational startup in 2026.   

Odfjell Oceanwind, Source Galileo Norge and Vår Energi have started collaborating on a pilot project for floating offshore wind at Goliat.  

Is bigger really better? Will floating offshore wind work with 15MW turbines and larger? 

• UK and Norway have set ambitious targets for reducing emissions from their oil and gas activities  
• Both nations desire to develop their respective industries into global leaders in floating wind  
• Floating wind is a de-carbonisation solution that could deliver on the emission reduction targets 
• Tax incentives could be an effective fiscal tool to incentivise de-carbonisation projects  

With advancements in technology and engineering, and not least political interest, there are now a variety of different floating wind technologies being promoted, each with its own unique design and approach to capturing wind energy. These range from simple floating platforms attached to the seabed, to innovative designs such as semi-submersible and spar-buoy concepts. However, few if any of these designs have so far been proven in full scale for large wind turbine generators. Many of them only exist as computer rendered images at an early stage of development. The designs that have come furthest have begun to involve the classification societies.

Odfjell Oceanwind, together with our partner Source Galileo, will with our UtsiraVIND project participate in the competition for seabed lease for floating offshore wind on Utsira Nord west of Haugesund in Norway. The intention for the three seabed leases of 500MW each is to stimulate technology and innovation, with the aim of reducing cost of energy from floating offshore wind.