Norwegian oil and gas fields Gullfaks and Snorre reached a milestone in implementing a wind farm, announced Austrian integrated oil and gas company OMV which owns a 19 per cent stake in the Gullfaks field.
The five platforms in the North Sea will be the first in the world directly connected to an offshore wind farm. The Norwegian authorities have now approved the plan for development and operation of this pioneering project which will contribute to reducing emissions from the two fields.
In particular, by replacing the platforms’ on-site electricity, currently generated by natural gas turbines with renewable electricity from wind turbines, the project will help to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes per year, corresponding to annual emissions from 100,000 private cars.
The offshore wind farm will consist of 11 floating wind turbines with a total capacity of 88 megawatts (MW) and that will meet about 35 per cent of the annual power demand of the five platforms.
OMV seeks to reduce the emissions from its operations both through conventional ways of reducing CO2 (including energy efficiency, equipment and process improvements, reducing methane leaks and flaring) as well as developing ways to power its operations through renewable energy.
All the company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction projects implemented in its operating countries between 2009 and 2019 have delivered a total reduction of 1.8 million tonnes CO2 equivalent to date. With these measures, OMV is contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
