Brought to you by
Equinor is a Norwegian international energy company and the largest oil and gas operator in the North Sea. It is also the leading supplier of energy to the UK.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Equinor spans dozens of countries worldwide and has had a presence in the UK for 14 years. Hywind Scotland, the first floating wind farm installed worldwide, was developed by Equinor, and the company is building the largest floating wind farm in the world in Norway, Hywind Tampen. Its portfolio of energy assets encompasses oil and gas, but also offshore renewables, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen production.
“The North Sea is the backbone of all of our energy activities,” says vice president of North Sea renewables area development Matei Negrescu. “We started our journey with the development of offshore oil and gas resources in the Norwegian North Sea, but we have since expanded significantly by becoming a broad energy company at the forefront of the energy transition.”
Offshore wind is one of the key pillars of Equinor’s strategy to grow a profitable and sustainable renewables business. Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon offshore wind farms off the coast of Great Yarmouth provide renewable power to more than 700,000 UK households, as well as creating exciting jobs in the region. Now Equinor is doubling the capacity of its wind farms with an extension project.
“This is the first time that two separate wind farms are being built as one with a single coordinated transmission network,” says Matei. “This will trigger a new and exciting phase of development for our renewable activities here in Norfolk.”
This synergistic and innovative approach will have a number of benefits. “It will allow us to capture economies of scale, making the project more cost-effective to consumers,” says Matei. “Ultimately, it also allows us to develop a coordinated grid transmission solution, which will minimise the footprint and the impact on both the environment and the community.”
Now that the DCO application has been approved, a statutory timeframe of 18 months will begin to assess development. “We are looking forward to engaging in that consenting phase together with relevant stakeholders and authorities.”
Matei says that Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon have unlocked opportunities for the local supply chain that go far beyond the reach of the local region. If the Sheringham Shoal (SEP) and Dudgeon (DEP) Extension Projects are built, they will support more than 1,800 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs per year across the UK and within East Anglia during the construction phase.
Equinor’s Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the northeast of England will also go online next year, powering an additional 5 million UK homes with renewable energy. And further carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and a focus on producing low-carbon hydrogen will help to facilitate decarbonisation.
Matei says that optimally combining different sources of energy will help meet net-zero targets.
“The challenge for governments, industry and communities alike is: how do we ensure that the energy system we rely on is designed to be sustainable, reliable and affordable?”
Equinor can start to achieve this through Pathfinder projects designed to recognise early opportunities that drive towards coordinated development of energy infrastructure. With its Pathfinder status for SEP and DEP, Equinor is engaging with Ofgem and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to build out the grid holistically.
With ambitious national aims to further expand, including the government target of 50GW of offshore wind energy by 2030, Equinor is at the forefront of the energy transition.
“The UK has been incredibly successful as a leader in the development of offshore wind globally,” Matei says. “But to deliver on those ambitions, it will take a lot of communication between government and industry, including developers, the supply chain and communities across the nation.
“There needs to be a very proactive approach towards the further development of the power grid to accommodate all the new offshore wind capacity that is going to be connected. There are challenges but also tremendous opportunities – and collaboration will be the key to unlocking these opportunities going forward.”
For more information, please visit www.equinor.com
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here