Concepts for lifetime efficient supply of power and heat to offshore installations in the North Sea

Abstract

This paper assesses different concepts for efficient supply of power and heat to specific offshore installations in the North Sea, with the objective of cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The concepts analyzed include solutions with on-site power generation, full plant electrification, and hybrid solutions where power can be either generated locally or taken from the onshore grid. A detailed modeling of the power generation system was carried out, enabling design and off-design simulations. Plant power and heat demand profiles were used to evaluate the various concepts throughout the entire field's life. A first analysis of the common on-site power generation systems revealed the possibility of cutting carbon dioxide emissions simply by optimizing the operating strategy. Overall, the assessment of the different concepts showed that full plant electrification and the implementation of an offshore combined cycle have the potential to substantially reduce cumulative carbon dioxide emissions. A sensitivity analysis of the carbon dioxide emission factor, associated with the grid power, stressed how this parameter has a strong influence on the analysis outputs and, thus, needs to be thoroughly assessed. Similarly, the impact of increased plant heat demand was evaluated, showing that advantages connected to the plant electrification tend to diminish with the increase in heat requirements.

An Integrated Assessment of the Environmental and Economic Impact of Offshore Oil Platform Electrification

“…The estimation of a CO 2 -factor addresses the following question "What are the CO 2 emissions associated with the electricity supplied to the offshore platforms from shore?" While the several approaches available return very different results [16], the choice of a proper method is often case specific. Two methods were considered in this study, namely the marginal and average CO 2 -factors.…”

“…On the Norwegian continental shelf only three such projects were developed [15], as concerns regarding the additional weight, the complexity of the power cycle, and the cost prevailed. A number of other options were more recently proposed and investigated, involving the power plant [16] as well as the processing plant [17]. A way to decarbonize the offshore operation without deeply modifying the power generation system could be to introduce a carbon capture process [18].…”

“…Moreover, several methods exists to allocate CO 2 emissions to the power supplied to the various consumers. The selection of one method over the others can result in very different outcomes [16]. Similarly, the economic performance of electrification is affected by the medium-to-long-term changes in the energy and environmental policies that have an effect on the cost of fuels, electricity and emissions.…”

Smart Load Management with Energy Storage for Power Quality Enhancement in Wind-Powered Oil and Gas Applications

“…This fact led to an increased interest in wind power integration into OOGPs in parallel to gas turbines (GTs) [3][4][5], especially where power from shore is not feasible, either technically or economically [6]. Also, the industry has a strong interest in this concept, and pilot installations in the Norwegian Continental Shelf are already planned [7,8].…”

Life performance of oil and gas platforms for various production profiles and feed compositions

“…Finally, Riboldi and Nord [13,14] conduct a lifetime analysis of the offshore power generation system -they claim that offshore cogeneration of heat and power is a promising alternative to reduce the environmental impact of the oil and gas sector. However, the variability of these energy requirements creates challenges when designing the combined cycles, and the authors analyse and optimize different alternatives, based on the production profile of an oil field in Norway.…”