The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) is exploring the potential for a more integrated offshore energy sector which includes closer links between oil & gas and offshore renewables, including offshore wind.
The new project, for which OGA secured a GBP 900,000 grant, will focus on the mix of energy sources and storage solutions necessary for UK’s transition to a low carbon economy.
OGA will investigate the potential of connecting offshore oil & gas platforms to offshore wind farms, an offshore grid or from shore to reduce costs and emissions and extend field lives.
The UK authority will also study the use of gas produced from offshore fields to generate electricity offshore and transmitting it to the shore by sharing infrastructure with wind farms.
In addition to investigating carbon dioxide capture, transportation and storage using legacy oil and gas infrastructure, OGA will focus on North Sea power hubs, i.e. large-scale electricity and hydrogen production from wind combined with carbon and energy storage solutions.
“This is a really exciting opportunity to advance the energy transition agenda, looking at practical steps that can be taken and how we as regulators can support that,” said Andy Samuel , CEO of the Oil & Gas Authority.
“Oil and gas will be required to power our economy and heat our homes for the foreseeable future, but to me it is clear there are great opportunities now to more closely link up all forms of offshore energy production to generate power more cleanly and efficiently.”
OGA is collaborating with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), The Crown Estate, Ofgem and other stakeholders to test for potential technical and regulatory opportunities in the short-term, while looking at longer-term opportunities.
The project is expected to conclude in spring 2020.