Offshore staff
EDINBURGH, UK – Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn, the latter owned jointly by Plenitude (Eni) and HitecVision, have signed exclusivity agreements for two floating offshore wind developments with a combined capacity of up to 1.9 GW.
Leases for the Green Volt and Cenos projects were awarded earlier this year under Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.
The developments will supply power to offshore oil and gas platforms, helping the operators to reduce their facilities’ carbon emissions by switching from power that is currently generated by gas and diesel turbines.
The wind farms will also deliver up to 7 TWh/yr to the UK grid each year.
Green Volt should have a nominal capacity of up to 560 MW when operational in 2027. In 2019, Flotation Energy identified an area in the North Sea where there were platforms with long field lives and high electrical loads.
The following year, the company started environmental surveys on a shut-in oil and gas field in the area which was in the process of being decommissioned, in water depths of 90-100 m and with a favorable local wind resource.
In 2022 it presented its plans for Green Volt to regulators, also submitting an Environmental Scoping report to Marine Scotland. The company expected to completed final engineering and technical surveys offshore this year.
As the project proposes an offshore generating station of greater than 1 MW it requires consent under the Electricity Act 1989, marine licenses under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (beyond 12 nautical mi), and the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 (within 12 nm).
Aberdeenshire Council will consider the planning application for the onshore infrastructure, comprising a buried cable and new substation.
Cenos, provisionally targeted for start-up in 2028, could be one of the world’s largest floating offshore wind farms by 2028 with a capacity of up to 1.4 GW. It too would supply local platforms with power, plus 5.5TWh+ annually to the UK grid.
The development will comprise 70-100 floating turbines in water depths of more than 90 m, each generating 14-20 MW. The turbines will be installed on floating substructures connected by mooring lines to anchors in the seabed to maintain their position, across an area of ~ 333 sq km.
11.02.2023
