In the week that Norway’s Prime Minister is due to visit a major industry event to extol the prospects of floating wind, state owned oil group Equinor’s announcement that it’s putting on ice “indefinitely” one of the nation’s – and world’s – most ambitious projects was hardly ideal.

The Equinor-led 1-gigawatt Trollvind project was always seen as a tough ask for the fledgling floating industry not least because of its timing, with ambitions to have North Sea oil and gas operations receiving green power from its floating wind platforms (via a connection to shore and back) as soon as 2027.