DELFT, The Netherlands—EnQuest has contracted Allseas to remove the topsides from the Heather Alpha platform in the UK northern North Sea.
Pioneering Spirit will lift the near-13,000 metric ton modular topsides under an engineering, preparation, removal and disposal contract.
Heather’s production, drilling and utilities platform is 460 km northeast of Aberdeen in a water depth of 143 m. Preparations will start next year with the lift scheduled for 2025.
Allseas also revealed it is installing hybrid power technology from Kongsberg Maritime on its Solitaire and Audacia pipelay vessels.
Batteries store energy when demand is low, returning it when demand rises. The result is said to be optimized engine loading with improved fuel efficiency and reduced running hours.
Allseas sustainability coordinator Wouter Roelofsen said, “The complex nature of our offshore operations requires state-of-the-art DP3 systems powered by a diesel-electric configuration. Hybrid power will reduce our fuel consumption, which translates to significant emissions and cost savings.”
Analysis suggests optimized energy efficiency, hybrid power and shore plug-in could cut emissions across the company’s fleet by up to 20% compared with the current diesel-electric propulsion.
All the new systems will be installed in 2023. Solitaire will be fitted with Kongsberg’s PowerAllocator energy storage solution, designed to allow the engines to run at increased fuel efficiency with full flexibility in power system setups.
Energy storage will be available for spinning reserve and power peak load smoothing for all main redundancy groups in open and closed bus operation.
Audacia and Fortitude will be equipped with dual-feed energy storage systems.
Allseas is considering hybrid solutions for other vessels in its fleet.
10.07.2022
