TotalEnergies has announced the launch of a pilot project consisting in a floating wind turbine to supply renewable power to Culzean offshore platform in the UK’s North Sea, thus pioneering an innovative decarbonisation scheme.
The 3 MW floating wind turbine will be located 2 km west of the Culzean platform, 220 km off the eastern coast of Scotland. This turbine, expected to be fully operational by end 2025, will supply around 20% 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, says: ‘This innovative pilot project aims at proving the concept of hybridisation of power generation on an offshore facility, by integrating the generation of renewable electricity from a floating wind turbine with the existing power generation from gas turbines. It also aims at qualifying a promising floater design for the future of floating offshore wind.’
This pilot project was selected in Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing round, designed to encourage and support the use of offshore wind energy to directly supply offshore oil & gas platforms.
