Sian Crampsie
The EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) has given the green light for Norway’s government to provide financial aid to the Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm.
Norway has outlined plans to provide Equinor, the developer behind the 88 MW project, a NOK2.3 billion (€211 billion) grant through state enterprise Enova.
The grant will cover around 43 per cent of the investment costs of the project, which will help to power Norwegian offshore oil platforms in the North Sea.
“ESA finds that aid to the project is compatible with EEA State Aid rules that aim to promote environmental protection as the positive environmental benefits outweigh the negative effects on competition,” said Bente Angell-Hansen, President of ESA, which monitors compliance with EU rules for countries in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Hywind Tampen will use 11 offshore wind turbines mounted on Equinor’s Hywind floating substructure technology. The project is part of Equinor’s push to reduce emissions from oil and gas production and in other sectors, and to pave the way for development of floating wind farms as a competitive energy resource globally.
The Hywind Tampen project is the highest individual aid award ever approved by ESA. Equinor’s partners in the project include OMV, Petoro, Idemitsu, DEA and Vår Energi.
