Supply chain bottlenecks, most notably related to the global market for steel, preclude delivery of the final four tower sections for the wind turbines until September 2022. This will be too late in relation to the installation weather window for the year, postponing installation of the remaining four turbines until next year.

“Seven turbines have been assembled and four are now installed on the field. The plan is to start production during the year and supply electricity first to Gullfaks, then to the Snorre field,” says project director Olav-Bernt Haga.

Once Hywind Tampen is completed, it will be the world’s largest floating wind farm and the first to supply electricity to oil and gas platforms. The wind farm has a system capacity of 88 MW and is expected to meet 35 per cent of the electrical power demand on the Gullfaks and Snorre fields. The seven first turbines will deliver electricity to both Gullfaks and Snorre and have a capacity of about 60 MW, already making Hywind Tampen the world’s largest floating wind farm.

Siemens Gamesa is the supplier of towers, nacelles and blades, all subject to rigid quality control measures. Deviations in steel quality in four tower sections were found, and corrective actions were immediately implemented. The difficult market situation for steel has however delayed delivery. Siemens Gamesa is working closely with their suppliers and Equinor to expedite all deliveries. The seven turbines already assembled have been thoroughly tested and meet all quality specifications.