Developers table GBP-20bn North Sea wind plan to power oil and gas

NOV’s Tri-Floater design. Source: Cerulean Winds.

Offshore wind developers Cerulean Winds and Frontier Power International have unveiled plans for a GBP-20-billion (USD 25bn/EUR 22.7bn) floating wind-powered transmission network that will electrify North Sea oil and gas platforms.

The North Sea Renewables Grid (NSRG) project is touted as one of the UK’s largest infrastructure developments backing the oil and gas sector’s decarbonisation, Cerulean Winds said on Thursday.

With roughly 3 GW across three sites in the Central North Sea, it emerged as the largest single winner in Scotland’s maiden Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) seabed leasing round that was completed in March.

The three sites will cover a total seabed area of 333 sq km (128.6 sq miles) and will accommodate hundreds of floating wind turbines that will create a gigawatt-scale power generation complex. In the initial phase, the power output will be used for oil and gas platforms, while eventually it could be exported into the UK mainland and Europe.

The three floating wind farms will be connected to each other to form a “ring main” high-voltage alternating current transmission network. Offtake to other parts of the North Sea could be made through a new HDVC system.

“Work with end users has begun in earnest so that we can aim for first power availability in 2028,” said Dan Jackson, founding director of Cerulean Winds.

The project’s delivery consortium partners include NOV, Siemens Gamesa, Siemens Energy, DEME and Worley.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.248/EUR 1.135)