Energy

Total becomes a 20% shareholder in the Eolmed floating wind farm pilot project, located in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Gruissan and near Port-La-Nouvelle (Occitan region).

A new group has been set up to make sure Scotland’s energy supply chain companies benefit from new floating offshore wind projects in Scotland and the UK. The announcement this week from Prime Minister, Boris Johnston, that the UK now has a 1GW floating target by 2030 further cements the role of floating offshore wind in the UK’s drive to become the “Saudi Arabia of offshore wind power” and is tremendous news for the supply chain.

Deep Tech engineering firm Akselos and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have won a major grant from the Swiss Innovation Agency (Innosuisse), worth 1.2 million Swiss francs to deliver a next-generation structural design and assessment tool for wind turbines.

A letter of intent has been issued to Odfjell Drilling and the Deepsea Aberdeen rig for drilling of 15 wells for the Breidablikk group, for which the partnership recently submitted the plan for development and operation (PDO). Drilling is scheduled to start in the spring of 2022, and the campaign is estimated to last until the autumn of 2024.

Zero-emission operations can be a reality already today and do not have to be a future option, says Ulstein. Their second hydrogen hybrid design for the offshore wind industry, the ULSTEIN J102 zero emission wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV), can operate 75% of the time in zero emission mode. Using readily available technology, the additional cost is limited to less than 5% of the total CAPEX.

Hess  announced it has made a final investment decision to proceed with development of the Payara Field offshore Guyana after the development plan received approval from the government of Guyana. Payara is the third oil development on the Stabroek Block; gross production capacity from the three developments is expected to reach approximately 560,000 barrels of oil per day in 2024.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Kværner apprentice Arne Linga started construction of Hywind Tampen, a floating offshore wind farm, at Kværner Stord. The technology project opens up new opportunities for Norwegian industry.

Alpha has opened a new training centre in Houston after achieving accreditation from the Global Wind Organization (GWO) to deliver its Basic Safety Training (BST). The base makes the company one of only seven providers accredited to supply the globally recognized GWO training courses in the United States.  

Equinor and partners Petoro, Vår Energi and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia have decided to develop the Breidablikk field in the North Sea. The partnership will submit the plan for development and operation to the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, in addition to awarding contracts for subsea facilities and upgrading of the Grane platform.

OPITO, the global skills organization for the energy industry, has made its first move into the renewable energy industry, with the launch of a new suite of safety and technical training standards, and qualifications, designed to address the skills requirements of a net zero economy.

Offshore wind investments in the first half of 2020 totaled USD 35 bn, up 319% year-on-year. In a world of economic uncertainty, offshore wind is booming while floating wind projects have successfully become operational. The question for all stakeholders – are we geared up for expansion?

Maersk Supply Service A/S, a part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, and Ørsted have joined forces to test a proto-type buoy that will act as both a safe mooring point and a charging station for vessels, potentially displacing a significant amount of marine fuel with green electricity.