The move follows last year’s installation of a test turbine in Norwegian coastal waters with a depth of 220metres. The turbine is a Siemens 2.3MW machine.
Statoil is now looking to expand the trial. It is considering building a five-turbine demonstration scheme on either the coasts of the Isle of Lewis or Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, or off the North Sea coast of Norway.
A Statoil spokesman said: "Statoil is currently running a feasibility study where we evaluate the possibilities of deploying a demo park of three to five windmills off the coast of Scotland."
"Wind parks based on floating structures are not commercially viable in today’s market. We therefore need time and a step-by-step approach to commercialise the concept."
The HyWind pilot project aims to test the technology over two years at a cost of NOK 400 million (€44.1million).
Norway has said it will comply with the spirit of the EU renewable energy directive and boost its renewables share from the record high of 60% to 70% by 2020.
However, its greater focus has been on experimental floating turbine technology, such as the HyWind project and the 10MW floating turbine being developed by SWAY and state enterprise Enova.
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