Three winners named for £1mn offshore North Sea electrification competition

Three winners are sharing a £1mn prize for ideas that could help cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by moving forward the drive to electrify platforms in the North Sea.

The decarbonisation competition for the electrification of offshore oil and gas installations was launched by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), working with the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), to fund technical and commercial studies on offshore electrification in the UK North Sea as part of the North Sea Transition Deal.

The winning projects are led by Orcadian Energy, looking at innovative concepts for the electrification of offshore installations in the Central Graben; Ørsted, addressing technical and commercial requirements of wind farm connections with offshore installations; and Katoni Engineering, for an optimised interface for distributed offshore renewable sources supplying existing offshore installations with secure and low-emissions power.

Dr Andy Samuel, OGA Chief Executive, says: ‘Rapid progress on platform electrification is vital to ensure that production emissions are halved by 2030, in line with agreed targets.’

Power generation accounts for over 70% of oil and gas production emissions. It is anticipated that powering installations using electricity, from a cable to the shore or from a nearby wind farm, could lead to a reduction of 2–3mn t/y of CO_2.

According to the OGA, the UK Continental Shelf could, through a mix of offshore electrification, carbon capture and storage, offshore wind power, and hydrogen, absorb up to 60% of the UK’s entire greenhouse gas reduction needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. 

The winning companies must now complete work on their studies by 31 March 2022, with project reports to be published in 2Q2022. 

Ørsted is leading a project addressing the technical and commercial requirements of wind farm connections with offshore installations
Photo: Ørsted