Ironic! Norway is Building a Massive Wind Farm to Boost Oil Production

Feels like something is missing the mark here.

Isn't It Ironic

In a huge twist of irony, Norway is building the world's largest wind farm — to power offshore oil and gas fields.

If you're raising your eyebrows at this point, we are too.

The project called Hywind Tampen is set to be constructed and operated by Norwegian energy giant Equinor, who also happens to be drilling for oil and gas in the area.

It's a rather confounding development for the country, which is currently the most fossil fuel-dependent industrialized democracy in the world.

Oh Boy

In a statement, the company claims that once Hywind Tampen is complete, they'll control nearly half of worldwide offshore windmills. Equinor is already Europe's number two exporter of natural gas — completing Hywind Tampen is sure to secure their place as a global player in the renewable market as well.

In the same press release, Equinor says that Hywind Tampen will provide roughly 35 percent of the energy needed to power the oil and gas operations, therefore cutting about 220,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 110,000 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions each year.

To the company's credit, those aren't small numbers, and alleviating the need to burn fossil fuels wherever possible is never a bad thing.

But Norway already has a complicated relationship with the European Union's climate goals. Oil and gas account for about 60 percent of its exports, and while they do have the highest rate of electric cars owned per capita, the government seems to have no intention of slowing down fossil fuel operations — despite claims of slashing greenhouse emissions in half by 2030.

And still, the fact remains: making something a little bit greener doesn't necessarily mean it's green.

The partners in the Hywind Tampen project will continue to rely on non-renewables to fuel their drilling enterprises, the very lucrative fruits of which will only add to Norway's oil and gas overreliance problem.

READ MORE: Norway to ramp up offshore wind in drive to go green [Reuters]

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