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New Ocean Grid project in the North Sea
THE NORWEGIAN MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY, ISELIN NYBØ, RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THAT THE OCEAN GRID PROJECT WILL RECEIVE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF USD 9.4 MILLION THROUGH THE GREEN PLATFORM SCHEME. THE PROJECT WILL DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGY, KNOWLEDGE, AND SOLUTIONS TO ENABLE A PROFITABLE DEVELOPMENT OF OFFSHORE WIND ON THE NORWEGIAN CONTINENTAL SHELF.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF EQUINOR.
Iselin Nybø, Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry (m) accompanied by Jens Økland (l), Senior Vice President for Business Development in Renewables at Equinor, and Florian Schuchert (r), Vice President Offshore Wind Technology at Equinor.
The objective is to realise offshore wind on a large scale.
New cable design
“Our objectve is to realise ofshore wind on a large scale. We must build wind farms in a cost-efectve way, and we of course need to get the power all the way to the customers. It’s crucial to our success that the energy companies, research insttutons, and suppliers collaborate towards this goal”, says Florian Schuchert, Vice President of ofshore wind solutons at Equinor, who leads the project. The Ocean Grid project will also address the issue of market design and the regulatory framework linked to the development and operaton of an ofshore grid to connect large ofshore windfarms. It will develop Norwegian technology and a supply industry to provide new cable designs, subsea technology, and foatng converter statons. Ocean Grid also has a research component, led by SINTEF, that will solve specifc research challenges. “This project will develop technology and solutons that are essental to succeed with ofshore wind. It will lay the foundaton for a proftable ofshore wind development in Norway, and technology that can provide increased exports and new green jobs”, says Chief Scientst at SINTEF, John Olav Tande.
Unique position
Europe has a plan of installing 300GW of ofshore wind capacity by 2050. The Norwegian industry is world leading when it comes to sea and subsea technology, developed over fve decades of oil & gas extracton. Norway is therefore in a unique positon to build upon this expertse and take a signifcant porton of this new market. “This project is important and on point to develop the right solutons and new technologies that will enable proftable ofshore wind in Norway. This will lay the groundwork for new concepts, new jobs, and a new supplier industry that can compete internatonally”, says the responsible for ofshore wind at Fred. Olsen Renewables, Lars Bender, who will also act as Chairman of the project’s board.
Ocean Grid is composed of the following partners:
Energy companies and developers: Agder Energi, Aker Ofshore Wind, Deep Wind Ofshore, Equinor, Hafslund Eco, Fred. Olsen Renewables.
Suppliers and manufacturers: ABB, Aibel, AkerSolutons, Benestad, DNV, Hitachi ABB, Nexans.
Research and innovaton: SINTEF, NTNU, UiO.
