The offshore wind and Oil & Gas sectors are historically largely separate. This project seeks to exploit synergies between the two in order to reduce the costs associated with O&G abandonment. Specific objectives are to:
• Identify hotspots where the two sectors, have the strongest synergies, e.g. hub locations.
• Assess the potential to exploit existing O&G infrastructure, e.g. for O&M, CCS, geothermal energy and/or hydrogen.
• Analyze how the planned, staged abandonment could optimally be aligned with offshore wind developments.
• Assess the potential for cost reductions achievable through the above insights.
The project will explore specific scenarios, for example:
a) Offshore hydrogen production (at O&G facility) + O&G as electricity hub for offshore wind – conversion of pipeline to hydrogen to send hydrogen to shore.
b) Offshore CCS + O&G as electricity hub for offshore wind – conversion of pipeline for CO2 transport + transmission line in parallel – hydrogen onshore with district heating.
c) Offshore hydrogen production/storage/fuel cell + O&G as electricity hub for offshore wind/transmission line to shore.
The method is energy systems analysis, which takes real-world data on the offshore energy system to create an accurate model. Building on existing work in this area (e.g. offshore wind), existing datasets and models should be extended to include offshore O&G assets and abandonment schedules.
