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Digitalisation – one key to unlocking the potential of offshore wind

27/7/2022

6 min read

Hywind Tamplen floating wind farm with turbine in foreground and Gullfaks platform in background Photo: Equinor
Hywind Tampen floating wind farm and the Gullfaks platform

Photo: Equinor

Digital solutions can help offshore wind farms ramp up capacity to meet demand for clean electricity, while optimising costs and efficiency. Andrew Gough from ABB Energy Industries in the UK explains how, and takes us inside the 88 MW Hywind Tampen floating wind project, which will help to power offshore oil and gas platforms.

Offshore wind development within Europe and around the world stands at a crossroads. On the one hand, integrating offshore wind as a renewable energy source is recognised as fundamental to global efforts to decarbonise industry and wider society, facilitate the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy and limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C in line with the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

 

Indeed, since the first offshore wind farm was installed off the coast of Denmark three decades ago, the global market has grown rapidly. Offshore wind generation grew by 29%, or 25 TWh, in 2020. Offshore wind farms utilise one of the earth’s most abundant natural resources to provide clean electricity to millions and, unlike renewables such as solar PV, hydro and nuclear, are largely immune from ‘nimbyism’ (‘not in my back yard’) since the infrastructure is built far away from homes.

 

Add to this the fact that both technology costs and the price of electricity per megawatt hour from offshore wind are falling dramatically compared with onshore wind generation, and in many regions worldwide offshore wind is now a cost-effective alternative to other forms of power generation.

 

Balancing energy demand and sustainability  
However, it is important to keep in mind that the energy transition will not occur overnight and that it must strike a balance between the world’s growing energy needs and its sustainability demands.

 

As the offshore wind market has grown, so has the global demand for electricity, which surged by 6% – or 1,500 TWh – in 2021, the largest total rise on record, according to recent research from the International Energy Agency (IEA). As such, offshore wind capacity growth is struggling to keep up.

 

Europe installed 17 GW (11 GW in the EU27) of new wind capacity in 2021, but the majority (81%) of that was onshore. Despite growing annual installation rates, Europe will not install anything like the offshore wind volumes it needs to reach its energy and climate targets, according to industry body Wind Europe. For that to happen, it would need more than 8 GW on average a year from 2022–2026.  

Furthermore, to attain the 8,000 TWh required in 2030 under the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, it is necessary to raise annual offshore wind capacity additions to 80 GW. According to the IEA, much stronger efforts are needed to achieve this level of sustained capacity growth, with the key areas for improvement for offshore wind being cost reductions and technology advancements.

 

I would argue that digital innovations such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and condition monitoring are central to achieving both of these goals. This is by giving offshore wind operators visibility and control over operations, enabling them to make data-driven decisions that keep facilities cyber-secure, improve efficiency and reduce costs, facilitate predictive maintenance and enable autonomous operations.

 

In this way, digital solutions can help ensure the reliable delivery of power output from offshore platforms to onshore grids, successfully integrating diversified energy into the existing power mix.

 


Hywind Tampen – pushing the boundaries 

The Hywind Tampen floating wind farm project is a compelling example of how such innovations are being deployed to fight climate change, in this case decarbonising oil and gas operations so they can continue to supply the affordable, reliable energy the world needs as it transitions to renewables.

 

Located in the Norwegian North Sea, it will produce 88 MW of clean energy and become the world’s first floating wind platform to power offshore oil and gas platforms. Norway’s target of producing 3 GW of floating offshore power by 2030 will cut emissions from its oil and gas industry by one-third.

 

The benefits of floating wind farms are well-documented. First, they avoid having to install very costly infrastructure on the seabed. The further from shore you go the stronger and more prevalent the winds are, meaning less intermittency. And, of course, far from shore there is less disruption to fishing and shipping lanes, meaning more acreage is available for turbines.

 

I would add that the cost per unit of floating wind farms is also falling, so much so that, within the next 10–20 years, I expect it to be on a par with fixed-bottom technology, leading to significant economies of scale for industry.

 

At Hywind Tampen, the benefits of using a floating wind farm to provide electricity to the Snorre and Gullfaks oil and gas fields are threefold. First, and most obviously, is reducing emissions per barrel of oil produced, which is important for the climate, of course, and also Equinor’s licence to operate.

 

Second, using offtake agreements, the oil and gas facilities will pay a premium for the power that is produced compared with the standard grid price, meaning you have reliable buyers of the electricity.

 

Third, and most importantly, Hywind Tampen will give Equinor invaluable experience of how to run offshore oil and gas operations using an intermittent power supply – ie when the wind isn’t blowing.

 

Flexible onboard gas power will balance production with how much wind power is available. Equinor estimates that, initially at least, wind power can replace 35% of gas-turbine power at the wind farm.

 

Energy storage during periods of intermittent supply will help maintain baseload power at all times, while increased automation and fewer people onsite makes effective condition monitoring critical.

 


The power of simulation and data analytics 

 

This is just one of the areas where ABB is able leverage 40 years or more of experience in providing technology solutions to offshore oil and gas, using the same type of mindset and ways of working to help enable safe and energy-efficient operations in emerging sectors such as floating offshore wind.

 

Parallels can be drawn between how you monitor critical instrumentation and equipment on an oil and gas platform and a substation on an offshore wind farm. One may involve separating oil and gas from water and hydrocarbon processing, while the latter could be gathering data inputs from cable arrays from the wind turbines.

 

Conceptually they are the same, in that we are using data inflows to monitor and run the core systems in an optimal way, collecting, contextualising and analysing operational data to create transparency, measurability and the capacity to take action.

 

There are also similarities around telecommunications, although offshore wind farms are more complex. For example, Dogger Bank – the world’s largest offshore wind farm – will contain three main substations surrounded by 285 giant turbines, in addition to moving parts such as vessels and crews.

 

In this asset-intense environment, access to the correct telecommunications protocols and making sure everything is available and visible data-wise at all times is a prerequisite for remote operations.

 

In the case of Hywind Tampen, ABB’s Process Power Simulator is enabling operator training and electrical control system testing to be conducted using a replica of the electrical control system to create a realistic real-world environment. This unique solution uses the same human-machine interface (HMI) and the same technologies to integrate processing channels and electrical signals.

 

This is a perfect example of how the visibility and understanding that comes with connectivity and data analytics can help customers make critical sustainability decisions that help ensure that energy supplies are clean and renewable, while also preserving process integrity.

 

Working closely with Equinor from day one of the Hywind Tampen project, ABB engineers have used the Power Process Simulator to formulate various wind scenarios over different timescales. Armed with this data, project teams can calculate how many and how often turbines are used, and upgrade electrical control and power management systems to take into account the new operational regime.


The Hywind Tampen floating wind farm project is a compelling example of how such innovations are being deployed to fight climate change, in this case decarbonising oil and gas operations.

 

The energy future is clean and collaborative  
This type of cross-industry and cross-border collaboration is crucial to growing the offshore wind market. Another example is an ongoing alliance taking place on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, where Aker BP works openly with vendors such as ABB to set and deliver on clearly defined time, cost and risk targets, sharing knowledge to identify efficiencies that benefit all project stakeholders.

 

As the energy transition evolves, this type of collaboration will be critical to meeting increasingly ambitious offshore wind development targets. Just last May, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands signed a €135bn deal to deliver 150 GW of offshore wind and green hydrogen by 2050.

 

In the brave new world of alternative fuels, no company or organisation can afford to stand still. At the recent International Conference on Energy Research and Social Science in Manchester, UK, a friend made an interesting analogy between IBM and ABB. Despite no longer making computers on a large scale, IBM remains a global technology leader. Why? Because it recognised key trends before they happened and had the foresight to adapt and become a force in these new, emerging markets.

 

ABB is already applying its experience in the offshore space to stay ahead of the curve on alternative fuels. The company is part of a consortium working on the Deep Purple pilot project, which utilises offshore wind energy to produce hydrogen from seawater. ABB’s automation, digital and electrification solutions are being used in the Northern Lights project to help provide transport and permanent storage of CO2 in reservoirs 2,600 metres under the seabed, part of plans to store more than 5mn t/y of CO2.

 

Digital, automation and electrification innovations such as these can really make a world of difference in helping to unlock the potential of not just offshore wind, but the entire spectrum of alternative energy sources the world needs.