據今日油價4月13日報道，更長的葉片，更高的塔，更強大的渦輪機：如今風能似乎已經過了創新的高峰，正在逐步改進，而不是突破。然而，除了一家石油公司外，沒有任何一家公司冒險進入一個具有巨大潛力的新領域：浮動海上風電。

挪威石油部本月早些時候批準了Equinor的一項計劃，旨在在北海建造和運營一個浮動海上風電場，為多達五個油氣平臺提供電力。該項目是同類項目中的首個，但是它將對海上油氣以及海上風電產生重大影響。

事實：距離挪威海岸140公里的Hywind Tampen風力發電場的總發電量為88兆瓦，配備11臺渦輪機，將滿足兩個Snorre平臺和三個Gullfaks平臺約35％的電力需求。但是，Equinor表示，在風速較高的時期，該百分比將大大提高。

這項耗資4.9億美元（合50億瑞典克朗）的項目將減少燃氣輪機的發電，從而使這五個平臺的二氧化碳排放量每年減少約20萬噸，并將一氧化二氮的排放量減少1000噸。

這當然是一項巨大的任務。 由于風電場產生的電力將用于從海底開采石油和天然氣，因此在環保方面不太可能給Equinor評很多分，但這并不是該項目的唯一目的。

據Equinor稱，Hywind Tampen風電場還將成為未來海上風電裝置的試驗場。

郝芬 譯自 今日油價

原文如下：

Offshore Oil Could Soon Be Powered By Wind

Longer blades, taller towers, more powerful turbines: wind energy seems to be past the peak of innovation now, improving incrementally rather than with breakthrough. And yet none other than an oil company has ventured into a new field with massive potential: floating offshore wind.

The Norwegian petroleum ministry earlier this month approved a plan by Equinor to build and operate a floating offshore wind farm in the North Sea that will supply power to as many as five oil and gas platforms. The project is the first of its kind, but it would have significant implications both for offshore oil and gas and for offshore wind.

The facts: the Hywind Tampen wind farm, 140 km off the Norwegian coast, will have a total capacity of 88 MW with 11 turbines that will meet around 35 percent of the electricity needs of the two Snorre platforms and the three Gullfaks platforms. However, Equinor says that "In periods of higher wind speed this percentage will be significantly higher."

The $490-million (5 billion kroner) project will reduce the use of gas turbines for power generation, consequently lowering the emissions of carbon dioxide from the five platforms by some 200,000 tons annually and emissions of nitrous oxides by 1,000 tons.

That's certainly a sizable undertaking. It is unlikely to score Equinor many green points since the power generated by the wind farm will be used for extracting oil and gas from the bottom of the sea, but this is not the only purpose of the project.

According to Equinor, the Hywind Tampen wind farm will also be a test site for future offshore wind installations.