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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Agreements signed for three UK floating wind sites
6/12/2023
UK green energy infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds has signed three floating wind exclusivity agreements as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.
Together these agreements pave the way for the creation of the North Sea Renewables Grid, a basin-wide green power generation and transmission system that will supply energy to oil and gas assets, helping the sector to hit emissions reduction targets. At the same time, it is hoped the project will provide early opportunities to the domestic floating wind supply chain.
Aspen, Beech and Cedar – the three sites that will form the North Sea Renewables Grid – are expected to deliver over £10bn combined in gross value added for the UK. Across the development, construction, operational and maintenance phases the project is expected to create over 5,000 jobs in Scotland, with first power being targeted for 2028.
Meanwhile, Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn, a joint venture between Plenitude (Eni) and HitecVision, have signed exclusivity agreements for two floating offshore wind developments – Green Volt and Cenos – with up to a total of 1.9 GW capacity under the INTOG leasing round.
As well as providing renewable electricity to oil and gas platforms, Green Volt and Cenos will also deliver up to 7 TWh of power back to the UK grid each year – the equivalent of providing renewable electricity for more than 2.4 million UK homes.
New industrial vision for offshore wind sector in UK
In other news, RenewableUK, the Offshore Wind Industry Council, The Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland have announced they are developing a new Industrial Growth Plan (IGP) to boost long-term growth of the UK offshore wind sector and have appointed KPMG to support the development.
An IGP was a key recommendation of the final report to government by the Offshore Wind Champion Tim Pick, who called for a ‘sober and thorough strategic competency “make-or-buy” analysis which takes into account the UK’s comparative advantages and opportunities for disruption’ so that British industry can be positioned to take advantage of the global boom in offshore wind and deliver the pipeline of domestic projects.
The sector believes a robust plan for growing industry to meet the UK’s offshore wind and energy security targets is essential to maximise the benefits in terms of jobs, growth and net zero.
The IGP will build on the recent supply chain capability analysis which suggested there is a £92bn opportunity for the UK if it can develop capacity and expertise in a number of key areas. The IGP will expand this further and set out the priorities and programmes to build UK competitive advantage in the global market, meet its innovation needs building on existing capabilities and close supply gaps that put domestic targets at risk.
The strategic approach to offshore wind will be used to guide future investment as the UK seeks to build up its domestic clean energy supply chain in the face of increasing global competition. The final IGP is expected to be published in early 2024.
Research to support viability of colocation projects
The Offshore Wind and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Colocation Forum, set up to provide strategic coordination of colocation research and activity on the UK’s seabed, has commissioned two research projects designed to inform the best approach to test and demonstrate the colocation of offshore wind and CCS activities in the future.
The research projects – Project Colocate and Project Anemone – build on the Forum’s spatial characterisation report, which identified areas of potential overlap for offshore wind and CCS on the seabed, and NSTA’s seismic imaging report, which explored various options for monitoring carbon storage and offshore wind sites to help resolve possible colocation issues.
Delivered by the University of Aberdeen with funding from The Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland, Project Colocate will investigate the viability of areas on the seabed for colocation of CCS and offshore wind, with bespoke monitoring plans for each area, supporting the Forum’s ambition to create a pipeline of potential test and demonstration sites for the future. Researchers from the University of Aberdeen will focus their investigations on the East Irish Sea and Central North Sea, both of which have been identified as having significant potential for future colocation of CCS and offshore wind.
Project Anemone will explore mutually beneficial opportunities arising from the colocation of these developing industries. The project aims to identify and map the routes to realising these opportunities to create practical guidance for how offshore wind and CCS technologies can operate alongside each other – from construction through to decommissioning. The Forum is liaising with NECCUS, the alliance supporting industrial decarbonisation in Scotland, alongside several developers, to deliver Project Anemone, with more details to be published shortly.
