“Long term, given that we are awarded an area of Sørlige Nordsjø II, it will be important for Equinor to have a physical presence in Agder. Short term, we will travel more often to Agder to meet the industry and the public players,” says Arne Eik, Project Director for Sørlige Nordsjø II at Equinor.
Equinor is by far the largest Norwegian enterprise with a market cap of approximately NOK 1,500 billion, which is more than the total market cap of the next six companies listed at the Oslo Stock Exchange.
“We are pleased to have Equinor join GCE NODE. Being a major player in offshore wind, it is a natural consequence. By participating in the cluster, Equinor acknowledges that the Agder region will play an important role in the development of the Norwegian offshore wind industry,” says Tom Fidjeland, CEO of GCE NODE.
“Equinor is likely to become a dominant player in the renewable space and especially within offshore wind, both in Norway and internationally. Having Equinor participate in our cluster presents opportunities for other cluster participants to cooperate with and go international with Equinor,” says Fidjeland.
FOUR MORE NEWCOMERS
At the last meeting, the GCE NODE Board of Directors also approved the following companies as participants of GCE NODE:
Capgemini Norge
Capgemini is a strategic partner that applies a breadth of expertise to address the full range of business needs across four areas: Strategy and transformation, applications and technology, engineering, and operations. With 350,000 employees world-wide, Capgemini has 1,500 employees in Norway and 35 in Agder. Regional Director for Agder: Frank Wehus. Head of Practice, Øyvind Mjølund. www.capgemini.com/no-no/
Greenstat Energy
Greenstat is a Norwegian green energy company which develops and owns its own projects and invests in external companies that contribute to zero emission solutions and create green value. Subsidiary Greenstat Energy is located in Arendal. CEO: Torstein Thorsen Ekern. Chief Strategy Officer: Karen Landmark. Senior Manager Business Development: Tanja Erichsen. www.greenstat.no/en
Ocean Ventus
Also located in Grimstad, Ocean Ventus is established to provide the best solution for floating wind turbines, addressing the need for environmentally friendly power generation on an industrialized scale. With superior weight to power ratio and significantly lower cost than other floater solutions, combined with true industrialized assembly methods avoiding the need for large quay areas, the Ocean Ventus floater solves the main challenges in making floating wind competitive. CEO: Ingvar Apeland
Smart Sensor Systems
Located in Grimstad, Smart Sensor Systems is a start-up that develops and sells sensors and sensor technology for surveillance of infrastructure, machines and equipment. CEO: Bjørn Otto Eliassen. www.smartsensorsystems.no
