Equinor’s Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm.
Photographer: Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB/AFP/Getty Images
Can Oil Ever Be Green? Norway Turns to Wind-Powered Drilling
Electrifying oil rigs is a taste of what the future could hold if fossil fuel companies get to lead the way toward net zero.
On a platform 140 kilometers (87 miles) off the coast of Norway, Crown Prince Haakon held two power cables connected to scale models: the first was a wind turbine, the second an oil rig.
Behind him, the world’s biggest floating offshore wind farm was just visible on the horizon, an engineering marvel that cost more than $660 million and took five years to complete. “By connecting these cables, we are connecting to the future,” the prince said before linking plug and socket. Tiny lights flickered to life inside the miniature oil rig, marking the official start of the planet’s first wind-powered offshore oil platform.