The world's first floating full-scale offshore wind turbine has been inaugurated in the North Sea off the coast of Norway, Norwegian energy giant StatoilHydro said Tuesday. The turbine known as Hywind, which measures 65 metres (213 feet) tall and weighs 5,300 tonnes, lies some 10 kilometres (seven miles) off the island of Karmoey near the Scandinavian country's south-western coastline, the company said.
It rests upon a floating stand that is anchored to the seabed by three cables. Water and rocks are placed inside the stand to provide balast. StatoilHydro plans to test Hywind over the next two years before it looks to set up any more floating wind turbines with international partners.
Hywind can be used in waters from 120 metres to 700 metres deep allowing it to be placed much further away from the shore than static wind turbines already in operation. A total of 400 million kroner (46 million euros, 66 million dollars) has been invested in the 2.3-megawatt floating turbine, making it a far more expensive option than its fixed counterpart. France's Technip and Germany's Siemens both worked with the Norwegian energy giant on the Hywind project.