TotalEnergies has launched a new pilot project wherein a floating wind turbine will supply renewable power to an offshore oil and gas platform in the UK North Sea.
The 3MW floating wind turbine will be located two kilometres west of the Culzean platform, which lies 220 kilometres off the eastern coast of Scotland. This turbine, scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2025, will supply around 20 per cent of Culzean’s power requirement, thereby reducing its GHG emissions.
The turbine will be installed on a modular, light semi-submersible floater hull designed by Ocergy, allowing for fast assembly and optimised costs.
Marie-Noelle Semeria, Chief Technology Officer at TotalEnergies, said the pilot project aims to prove the concept of hybridisation of power generation on an offshore facilit, by integrating the generation of renewable electricity from a floating wind turbine with the existing power generation from gas turbines.
This pilot project was selected in Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round, designed to encourage and support the use of offshore wind energy to directly supply offshore oil and gas platforms.