Norwegian energy firm Equinor said Monday it would postpone further development of the Trollvind offshore wind initiative indefinitely.
Back in June 2022, Equinor and four other oil and gas companies in Norway, partners in the Troll and Oseberg fields in the North Sea, said they were looking to build a 1GW floating wind farm in the Troll area, with the plan to use the wind farm to power oil and gas installations. They said at the time that the final investment decision on the project - called Trollvind - could be made in 2023.
On Monday, announcing its decision to postpone further development of Trollvind, Equinor said the decision was based on several challenges facing the project, including technology availability, rising cost, and a strained timetable to deliver on the original concept.
Equinor has previously announced reduced activity in the project due to technical, regulatory, and commercial challenges to the project.
"We appreciate all the positive response towards Trollvind from politicians, suppliers, and authorities. Trollvind was a bold industrial plan to solve pressing issues concerning electrification of oil and gas installations, bringing much needed power to the Bergen-area, while accelerating floating offshore wind power in Norway. Unfortunately, we no longer see a way forward to deliver on our original concept of having an operational wind farm well before 2030,” says Siri Espedal Kindem, vice president of renewables Norway.
Behind the decision to put Trollvind on hold are several challenges facing the broader offshore wind industry. Rising costs have challenged the original concept that Trollvind would not require any financial support and is no longer a commercially sustainable project, Equinor said.
Furthermore, Equinor said, changes in the technical solutions due to preferred technology not being available has made the concept less viable. Finally, Equinor added, time was always going to be a challenge with the proposed timeline, and despite all the big effort, it has not been possible to mature Trollvind to the level needed to go forward at this time.
"As Equinor has taken this decision, the company is also looking forward. Our ambition is still to lead in building an offshore wind industry in Norway. The knowledge and learning from working on Trollvind will be applied to other projects as Equinor remain committed to developing floating offshore wind power at Utsira Nord and outside Norway," Equinor said.