Planned to be developed offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the Hywind pilot park is said to be the largest of its kind and is expected to pave way to new markets for renewable energy production across the globe.
Spread across 4km2 at a water depth of ranging from 95-120 meters, the NOK2bn ($236m) project will feature five floating turbines installed on floating structures at Buchan Deep, 25km offshore Peterhead, to power about 20,000 households.
With the Hywind pilot park, Statoil intends to assess the feasibility of future commercial, utility-scale floating wind farms.
Statoil New Energy Solutions executive vice-president Irene Rummelhoff said: "This will further increase the global market potential for offshore wind energy, contributing to realizing our ambition of profitable growth in renewable energy and other low-carbon solutions.
"Through industry and supportive policies, the UK and Scotland is taking a position at the forefront of developing offshore wind as a competitive new energy source."
Expected to enter service in late 2017, the project recently secured marine license from the Scottish Government.
Scotland Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: "The ability to leverage existing infrastructure and supply chain capabilities from the offshore oil and gas industry create the ideal conditions to position Scotland as a world leader in floating wind technology."
The onshore operation and maintenance base for the project will be located in Peterhead.
Statoil has been operating a single floating offshore turbine, Hywind, in Norway since 2009.
Image: Illustration of Hywind floating wind farm. Photo: courtesy of The Scottish Government.
