Floating wind/hydrogen mega-project proposed for North Sea platforms

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK – Cerulean Winds is seeking support for a proposed large-scale floating wind and hydrogen development to power UK offshore oil and gas field centers.

The planned infrastructure, with an estimated cost of £10 billion ($14.2 billion), would provide capacity to reduce 20 MM metric tons (22 MM tons) of CO₂ emitted in the UK offshore sector.

Cerulean Winds’ founders are Dan Jackson and Mark Dixon, who previously created io oil & gas consulting, a joint upstream venture between McDermott and Baker Hughes (ex-GE Oil & Gas).

They have submitted a formal request for seabed leases to Marine Scotland, and claim to have Tier 1 contractors in place to deliver the development.

Their proposal includes:

• More than 200 of the largest floating turbines at sites west of Shetland and in the UK central North Sea with 3 GW/hr of capacity, supplying power to offshore oil and gas facilities and excess 1.5 GW/hr to onshore green hydrogen plants.
• Capability to electrify the majority of current facilities on the UK continental shelf, and future production potential from 2024, to reduce emissions beyond current abatement targets.
• 100% availability of green power to offshore platforms at a price below current gas turbine generation, with no upfront cost to operators.
• Development of green hydrogen at scale with £1 billion ($1.42 billion) hydrogen export potential.
• No subsidies, and hundreds of millions of pounds of government revenues via leases and taxation through 2030.

Cerulean has performed infrastructure planning for the scheme to ensure the required level of project readiness, and is targeting financial closure in 1Q 2022, with construction beginning shortly afterward followed by energization in 2024.

Société Générale and Piper Sandler are advising Cerulean.

06/01/2021