Odfjell Oceanwind welcomes Eneos as new partner in GoliatVIND floating wind project off Norway

Odfjell Oceanwind has confirmed that Japanese company Eneos Renewable Energy has become a partner in the GoliatVIND project with a 20 per cent interest, by acquiring a 20 per cent shareholding in the project from Odfjell Oceanwind.

GoliatVIND is a 75MW demonstration project for floating offshore wind with grid connection via the Goliat FPSO to Norway's Hammerfest region and with onshore grid reservation in place with Statnett and Lucerna. The project is located at 400 metres water depth on the border between the northern Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea.

GoliatVIND received a grant of NOK2 billion (US$185 million) from Norwegian state enterprise ENOVA earlier this year, under a program aimed at demonstrating and reducing costs of floating offshore wind.

The five 15MW floating wind turbines will be placed five to 11 kilometres from the Goliat platform. The placement of the wind turbines has been done after dialogue with fishing interests.

Odfjell Oceanwind expects the project to be operational by 2028, though this will depend on how the licensing process is laid out by the Norwegian Ministry of Oil and Energy.