The stormy North Sea is the birthplace of a complete value chain for floating offshore wind

Page date: Published 12 Oct 2022; updated 30 Sep 2026. 4 min read.

The article says floating offshore wind shares many technical demands with offshore oil and gas: North Sea ice, cold and storms require equipment and expertise suited to harsh marine conditions. It describes Norway’s offshore and maritime experience and a supply chain of hundreds of companies as potential advantages, while emphasizing collaboration among Norwegian and international suppliers.

Examples in the article include Saga Subsea’s remotely operated vehicles, installation and inspection tools, and consultants; Cranemaster’s shock absorbers and heave compensators for reducing loads on cranes and equipment; Origo Solutions’ SCADA+ platform for combining subsystems in one interface; Uptime International’s motion-compensated “Walk to Work” gangway for transferring people and cargo between vessels and turbines; and Ex-tech Group’s wireless microsensors for monitoring equipment in difficult-to-access areas. The article attributes benefits such as improved safety, lower operating costs, reduced emissions and less manual inspection to the companies; these are company claims rather than independently established results.

It identifies logistics, deeper water and larger turbine capacity as challenges, and presents shared expertise and cooperation as important to developing the floating-wind supply chain. Related links: Energy; Offshore wind.