wind power

As part of the contract, Wood will provide the topside modifications needed for the Snorre A and Gullfaks A platforms to integrate the Hywind floating wind park with existing systems powering the facilities. The platforms will be the first to receive electric power from floating wind turbines.

Offshore wind makes up less than 1% of the current energy mix, but analysts have it pegged as a potential trillion-dollar business in the near future. That growth presents an opportunity for operators to reduce costs and their carbon footprint through the electrification of their offshore platforms.

Equinor and the Snorre and Gullfaks partners have made a final investment decision for the Hywind Tampen offshore wind farm development. By reducing the use of gas turbines, the project helps cut CO2 emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes/year.

Statoil selected the name “Empire Wind” for its offshore wind site located off the southern coast of Long Island, New York. The company also recently stepped into solar power in Brazil.

The top US wind power official told the offshore upstream sector that it can help build “smaller, leaner, and cheaper" wind turbine farms.

Tyer Wind in Tunisia developed a wind turbine that mimics the flapping motion of hummingbirds' wings. Rated power output is 1 kW, using two carbon-fiber wings, each 5.25-ft long. At rated power, it operates at 450 rpm. The machine is currently undergoing open air/real conditions testing.

Compared to oil in the ground, the sun looks like a limitless energy source. Making comparisons of the two by calculating the equivalent of barrels of reserves for a solar project seems like an odd notion, but experts say it can and should be done.

Wind power via floating turbines could be used to pump oil from remote offshore fields in the way windmills were once used to pump water from wells in arid West Texas.