Floating offshore wind is a fast-maturing technology with the potential to extend the frontiers of innovation in renewable energy.

The ability to install wind turbines in deeper waters, where winds tend to be stronger, opens up huge amounts of oceans to generate renewable wind power.

It is almost certain that additional steps will be made to exploit this opportunity to feed O&G assets, such as FPSOs, with green power in order to “decarbonize” them allowing O&G Companies to reach their ambitious net-zero targets.

One example is the Hywind Tampen Project being developed by Equinor: the power from the floating wind turbines will also feed Equinor’s Snorre and Gullfaks offshore field operations in the Norwegian North Sea.

Floating O&G assets, such as FPSOs, in particular those operating in harsh environment, will require customized systems to quickly connecting and disconnecting, both during normal operations but specifically in case of emergency, the high voltage power cables from the floating wind towers. This equipment would therefore ease the installation/hook-up activity as well as providing capacity to disconnect, recovery and reconnect the high voltage power cables as the need be.

These systems may be used not only on the FPSO connection side, but also on the floating wind turbine side, in order to provide a simple mean to quickly disconnect the power cable and lay it on the seabed for future recovery, should the need be to take the turbine off site (e.g. for planned maintenance or replacement).

Thanks to decades of comprehensive experience in the offshore industry, MIB can support its Customers with the required expertise and know-how to design and supply any such systems, whose concepts are always engineered and manufactured to any specific project requirements.