Electrification of Oil and Gas Installation by Offshore Wind

Norway aims to reduce CO2 emissions caused by the oil and gas (O&G) extraction facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) substantially within the next 10 years. The gas turbines which power up the operations on offshore platforms and/or any subsea operations are responsible for almost two-thirds of the emission. Electrification of the O&G platforms is therefore crucial to reduce our dependence on gas turbine engines. ELOGOW aims to bring most recent technological advancements in offshore wind turbines (OWT), battery and hydrogen technologies to accelerate the progress of electrification of O&G platforms. ELOGOW focuses on development of necessary tools and methodologies to deliver enough power required for continued operations in a platform by converting the wind energy in the offshore environment to electricity. To minimize the emission caused by the gas turbines, one of the main goals of the ELOGOW is to build a system where the gas turbines are operated only in shut down and start on the fly mode, thus elimination excessive emission caused when gas turbines are kept on idle mode. This is achieved by supplementing the wind energy with battery and hydrogen systems. ELOGOW has been carrying out detailed feasibility studies to design a robust, stable, and predictable energy system. One of the key components in this research project is to build an autonomous controller and an energy management system to balance power demand by the O&G operations and total power supply. ELOGOW is building models forecasting weather and wind farm power production to estimate available wind energy with high accuracy. Simulations combining all energy sources to power up a model platform indicates that the ELOGOW has big potential. The complete system will lead to reducing greenhouse gas emission substantially using wind energy potential in offshore environment. The competence built during the project will accelerate electrification of the O&G facilities. The concepts, models and solutions developed in ELOGOW is also applicable on-land facilities. High emission generating industries will certainly benefit from the know-how generated in the project.

Oil and gas (O&G) extraction facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) are the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Norway after transport. These facilities are responsible for approximately 27% of the total emission in Norway. Gas turbines are responsible for 66% of this high emissions. To meet Norway's goal to reduce CO2 emissions caused by O&G production on the NCS by at least 2.5 million tons per year from 2030 it is mandatory to reduce, or eliminate, our dependence on the gas turbines by electrification of the O&G platforms. The most promising approach in electrification efforts is to utilise offshore wind turbines (OWT) and provide the power required for continued operations by converting the vast amount of available wind potential in the offshore environment to electricity. Even though the direct combination of wind turbines and gas turbines (i.e. Hywind Tampen) can provide a steady energy delivery to O&G platforms with reduced gas turbine use, the amount of emission reduction is very limited since such an energy system will require keeping the gas turbines running at idle state almost all the time. When idle, gas turbines continue producing excessive amount of CO2, CO, NOx and other hydrocarbons due to operation in off-design conditions. ELOGOW combines recent advancements in offshore wind turbine technology, batteries and energy storage/conversion systems to minimise the dependence on gas turbines and only allow them to operate in “shut down – start on the fly” mode instead of idle. The project will carry out detailed feasibility studies on each energy source, develop a system simulation model of a typical offshore installation electrified with wind and energy storage/conversion, and develop an autonomous controller and energy management system. ELOGOW will complete concept designs of cost minimised systems to reduce CO2 emissions from gas turbines by 60, 70, 80 and 95%.