Norwegian Petroleum and Eni will cooperate to develop North Sea floating wind power

According to a report from Reuters in Oslo on May 7, Statoil (Equinor) and Italian rival Eni said on Thursday that the two companies plan to cooperate in the development of a floating wind farm in the North Sea.

The Norwegian government has designated up to 4.

Equinor stated that it has partnered with Vaargroenn (Eni owns 69.

"Beihai has some of the best wind energy resources in the world," said Paal Eitrheim, Equinor's head of new energy solutions.

"Utsira Nord's floating offshore wind farm may be the next large-scale project to promote the industrialization of floating offshore wind power and create new opportunities for Norwegian industry.

The development cost of floating wind farms is higher than that of turbines fixed on the seabed, but they can be installed in deeper waters.

However, analysts said that without subsidies, Norway's development of offshore floating wind power is still unprofitable.

The Vaargroenn joint venture has also previously announced that it is cooperating with Agder Energi, a utility company in southern Norway, to seek offshore wind power areas in Norway.

Shen Hanye excerpted and translated from Reuters

The original text is as follows:

Equinor and Eni to collaborate on floating North Sea wind power

Norwegian oil company Equinor and Italian rival Eni plan to collaborate on development of floating wind farms in the North Sea as part of their expansion within renewable energy production, the companies said on Thursday.

The Norwegian government has earmarked two areas in the North Sea for up to 4.

Equinor said it had teamed up with Vaargroenn, 69.

"The North Sea has some of the world's best wind resources," said Paal Eitrheim, Equinor's head of new energy solutions.

"A floating offshore wind farm at Utsira Nord could be the next project at scale to drive industrialisation of floating offshore wind and create new opportunities for Norwegian industry.

Floating wind farms are more expensive to develop than turbines that are fixed to the seabed but can be located in deeper waters.

However, developing floating offshore wind power in Norway remains unprofitable without subsidies, analysts have said.

　　The Vaargroenn joint venture has also previously announced that it was working with southern Norwegian utility Agder Energi to seek offshore wind acreage in Norway.