Abstract
Reliable local renewable power generation enables more environmentally and economically viable operations, to meet with the challenge of renewable energy intermittency and energy security. The Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) project support targets towards Net Zero Targets by providing a full solution to generate low carbon, cost-effective, power and communications to remote locations in the offshore energy industry. The development of the RSP system is a collaborative project led by three UK-based companies in partnership with wider industry engagement from operators and the Aberdeen-based Net Zero Technology Centre. Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is set to play a key role in the energy transition. CCUS developments will incorporate all-electric subsea systems that can benefit from the RSP solution. This first of a kind integrated solution will contribute significantly to the generation of clean energy in the petroleum industry using a Wave Energy Converter and seabed battery energy storage for production control applications. The various applications that would benefit from the cost and CO2 savings from deploying the system, compared to traditional methods, include umbilical remediation, brownfield expansion, long offsets, CCUS, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle residency. For CCUS projects key advantages are a specific design catered towards simplified controls architecture (e.g. electric controls), and the ability to offer an alternative to direct current fibre-optic from shore. A full system demonstrator deployment commenced in Feb-23 and has demonstrated system capability to power subsea equipment and an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Trials continue through 2024.