Sway develops large-scale wind turbines to make offshore wind power competitive with land-based wind power. (Illustration: Sway)
For many years, Sway has been developing technology for utilising wind resources far offshore with the help of funding under the Research Council’s RENERGI programme.

This infusion of funding from state-owned Enova and investors will enable the company to take a giant leap forward in realising large-scale production. The test project has a budget of NOK 400 million.

In February 2010, Enova awarded NOK 137 million to Sway to develop the world’s largest wind turbine. The funding is for construction of a 10-MW wind turbine with a rotor 145 metres in diameter – the world’s longest – in Øygarden, an island community northwest of Bergen. Featuring a number of technological innovations, the turbine will be tested on land for two years, after which the goal is to move the technology offshore.

“This is a milestone in the development of wind power technology for the future,” declared Terje Riis-Johansen, Norway’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy. “This project lays the foundation for future advances in floating offshore wind power technology.”

In collaboration with SmartMotor AS (a Norwegian technology company that has previously received funding under the RENERGI programme), Sway has developed a new concept that employs a gearless generator system and reduces the turbine’s weight and number of moving parts. The end result is higher offshore wind power production – with lower operational costs. Nearly 40 engineers pooled their talents to develop the concept, which will now undergo thorough testing.

In November 2009, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) awarded a concession to test a wind turbine of this scale in Øygarden.

Owners of Sway AS include Statoil ASA, Lyse Energi AS, Inocean AS, and founder Eystein Borgen.