Aibel is the largest supplier of offshore wind solutions in Norway, which is now very visible at the yard in Haugesund. Two offshore wind converter platforms are being outfitted and commissioned, before being transported and installed.
Meet the giants
DolWin epsilon
Height: 80 metres
Weight: 23,000 tonnes
Capacity: 900 MW
Offshore wind platform that will convert alternating current from three wind farms to high voltage direct current before the power is sent to shore. The platform will be located in the DolWin cluster in the German sector of the North Sea. DolWin beta, the first offshore wind platform delivered by Aibel, has been in operation in this sector since 2015.
Customer: TenneT
Suppliers: Aibel/Seatrium and Hitachi Energy
Dogger Bank B
Height: 40 metres
Weight: 7,000 tonnes
Capacity: 1,200 MW
Dogger Bank B is the second of three offshore wind platforms that Aibel is delivering to the world's largest offshore wind farm in the Dogger Bank area in the UK part of the North Sea. The wind farm will have a combined capacity of up to 3.6 GW which is enough to power 6 million British homes.
Customers: Equinor, SSE Renewables and Vårgrønn
Penguins FPSO
Height: 117 metres (7 metres under water, 110 above, including the flare boom)
Weight: 32,000 tonnes
Capacity: 400,000 barrels (bbls) total storage, daily production capacity: 45,000 barrels (boe/d or bopd)
Penguins FPSO is a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel used to process, store and export oil and gas. The vessel was built in China and arrived at Aibel's yard in Haugesund in 2023 for completion and commissioning during 2024.
Penguins FPSO will be operated by Shell UK in the Penguins field in the British part of the North Sea.
Client: Shell UK
Total weight of 70,000 tonnes
In addition to the three giants, the large construction hall is packed with modules that will provide the Oseberg field with power from shore and thus reduce emissions by 320,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. A new compressor module is also being built to increase gas exports from the field.
Another module is being built in the shipbuilding hall. It is part of the modification work to link the IRPA field to Equinor's Aasta Hansteen platform. In addition, maintenance and modification work is being carried out for various onshore and offshore facilities.
“We are working on a large number of projects at the same time and there is a total weight of 70,000 tonnes at the yard,” explains Vice President Yard Operations Lars Inge Hellestveit.
New giants approaching
Organising all these activities in parallel requires precise planning and interaction between the projects.
“It's going very well and many of Aibel's people are involved. There is a noticeably positive energy and atmosphere,” says Hellestveit.
Going forward, the unmanned production platform Munin, which Aibel is building for Aker BP, will account for more of the activity at the yard. The 8,000-tonne platform will be completed in 2026 and is one of three new platforms planned for the Yggdrasil field in the North Sea.
In addition, Dogger Bank C will arrive in early summer, just after Dogger Bank B has left the yard. This is the third converter platform for the Dogger Bank wind farm off the coast of England.
When Dogger Bank C leaves the yard, the two wind converter platforms Aibel is building for Ørsted for the Hornsea 3 project will arrive. Construction is taking place at Aibel's yard in Thailand before transport to Haugesund for final completion and outfitting of Hitachi Energy’s HVDC technology. Planned completion is in 2026.
Published 23 February 2024
