VATIS UPDATE Article

Energy company Statoil, Norway, has setup the fifth and final floating wind turbine secured off the coast of Scotland in a trial that will power 20,000 homes. The Hywind project is the result of more than 15 years of work of Statoil. It’s yet another clean energy technology being shown off at a time when Australia signals a move away from previous clean energy goals.

The trial wind farm, known as Hywind, is located 25km from Peterhead on Scotland’s east coast Statoil has developed the technology for the floating turbines. The turbines, each weighing 10,500 tonnes and measuring 253m from blade tip to base, were constructed in Norway and then shipped to the Scottish coast for installation.

Existing offshore wind farms are tethered to the seabed at depths of approximately 50m, while the Hywind turbines are currently floating in waters up to 129m deep, with the potential to work in depths of up to 800m. With 80% potential offshore wind sites in depths of more than 60m, this technology opens the door for governments around the world to build wind farms in locations that were previously unfeasible.