Abstract Today the development of subsea fields or satellites and the remoteness of thelocation not only require subsea processing but have also has implications forthe provision of power. The norm for offshore power generation is the use offossil fuel. However, the uncertainty surrounding a global climate policy at atime when the projection is for an exponential increase in offshore powerdemand is a cause for pause to look at renewable power solutions. Types ofrenewable power solutions that have application to the offshore oil and gasindustry include: solar, wind, and ocean energy (various).
This paper provides a rank/value for offshore power generated with bothrenewable- and conventional- energy sources relative to four (4) projectscenarios: Status Quo, Supply-to-the-Rescue, The Green Agenda, and DoubleJeopardy. The work to select a power solution began by identifying a key focusquestion about the future that the scenarios would address: How will the demandfor offshore (subsea) power and the potential externalities that may resultshape the power generation options over the next decade? The paper also pointsto resources that can shed light on the latest technological advances andfuture trends for renewable energy sources. The hope of the author is that thepaper will prove to be a useful reference for R&D specialists and projectengineers who are often asked to respond to the question: Renewables - Ready orNot?
Introduction The project goal was to identify the best fit power delivery solution forhydrocarbon assets located remotely and/or in deepwater. For the purpose ofthis paper we would consider the power delivery implications for hydrocarbonassets located offshore North West Australia. The search for a feasible powerdelivery concept must be wide and deep enough to neither overlook promisingdevelopments in the Renewable Energy Market nor misjudge the overall impact ofproject externalities.
The high-level workflow to arrive at a comprehensive solution is illustrated inFigure 1. Typical for the oil and gas space is a staged gate approach to arriveat a chosen system concept. These stages can be generically labeled as Phase 1,2, 3, etc. or given qualifying names like Identify, Assess, Select, Define, etc. The tasks attached to each stage as illustrated in figure 1 isself-explanatory. What is needed is greater clarity on terminology that may notbe broadly applied in the industry:" Givens" are facts, assumptions, and decisions already made and taken as agiven for this project.
A " solution space" is a matrix showing all possible combination of theproject scenarios and system concepts. A subset of these will constitute thefeasible configurations for in-depth system modeling and analysis.