Statoil Launches Battery Storage For Offshore Wind Farm

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Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil has announced this week it intends to pilot a battery storage solution for offshore wind farms.

Statoil announced that it will develop Batwind, a pilot battery storage solution that will be constructed in tandem with the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm, also being developed by Statoil, offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Statoil-2Statoil received approval from the Scottish Government back in November to develop the Hywind pilot floating offshore wind farm. Hywind will be a 30 MW wind farm, built on floating structures 25 kilometers offshore from Peterhead. According to Statoil, the wind farm will generate the approximate equivalent electricity necessary for 20,000 households, with production expected to begin in 2017.

“Statoil is proud to develop the world’s first floating wind farm,” said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions. “Our objective with the Hywind pilot park is to demonstrate the feasibility of future commercial, utility-scale floating wind farms. 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.”

Statoil is hoping that its new battery pilot project will serve as a launchpad for future technological and commercial growth, and eventually lead to the implementation of Batwind as a full-scale development. Batwind will be developed in cooperation with Scottish universities and suppliers, under a new Memorandum of Understanding signed in Edinburgh on 18 March between Statoil, the Scottish Government, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, and Scottish Enterprise.

“Statoil has a strong position in offshore wind,” said Stephen Bull, Statoil’s senior vice president for offshore wind. “By developing innovative battery storage solutions, we can improve the value of wind energy for both Statoil and customers. With Batwind, we can optimize the energy system from wind park to grid. Battery storage represents a new application in our offshore wind portfolio, contributing to realizing our ambition of profitable growth in this area.”

Statoil-3

Battery storage programs built in tandem with renewable energy developments such as wind farms have the potential to mitigate the intermittency inherent to renewable energy, thereby improving efficiency and lowering costs for offshore wind.


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Joshua S Hill

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