Close Menu
Mobile menu toggle
Mobile menu toggle

Can oil and gas experience help to drive the renewable energy revolution?

Although the oil and gas, and renewable power industries have differences, there are many areas where knowledge and experience can be transferred, from design to decommissioning, to help drive the renewable energy revolution. At Acteon, we understand the offshore renewable industry’s constant need to transform project economics through standardisation, something we have done successfully by bringing multiwell, multiclient rigless well abandonment campaigns to the oil and gas industry.

DIFFERENT MECHANICS

The first offshore wind farm was built in 1991 and successfully decommissioned in 2017. As with most new industries, costs were initially high and the projects were heavily subsidised. However, the industry has had great success in lowering the levelised cost of energy (LCoE). Only five years ago, the LCoE for offshore wind has halved from more than USD200/MWh to less than USD100/MWh1 and subsidy-free projects are being developed.2

In the oil and gas industry, offshore infrastructure is designed and constructed to the specifications of the individual field, purpose and developer. Producing bespoke assets can add time and cost to projects. By contrast, to reduce the LCoE, offshore renewable energy projects seek standardisation and industrialisation (design one, build many) to install numerous similar assets as inexpensively as possible. A factory, production line mindset is required. This difference has fed a perception that oil and gas technologies and experience are too expensive or not relevant for offshore renewable projects. However, all offshore assets, whether for oil and gas production or renewable energy generation, operate in the same environment. They experience harsh dynamic loads from winds, tides and currents and their operators face similar engineering challenges when designing, constructing, installing, maintaining and decommissioning them safely in the marine environment.

Offshore wind farm

Decommissioning is already gathering pace for oil and gas assets, and lessons learned are starting to be applied to renewable projects coming to the end of their lives.

COMMON CONDITIONS

Acteon has extensive experience of supporting the offshore oil and gas industry at every development stage; experience it has been applying for over a decade to reduce the cost of owning renewable energy infrastructure. For example, ground conditions have major implications for the design of any offshore infrastructure, including anchors, mooring systems and foundation types. The seabed must be surveyed to identify conditions before any subsea infrastructure is installed, and Acteon offers comprehensive site characterisation solutions which include bathymetric and geophysical surveys and geotechnical testing. These services are equally relevant to oil and gas and renewable energy projects. Getting the surveys right and properly integrated early in a project can improve overall project outcomes, yet this does not always happen.

There are common needs during installation too. For instance, marine growth removal, grouting and hydraulic hammer services are used during oil and gas, and wind turbine foundation installation. The integrity of offshore structures must also be managed throughout the operational phase. This applies to cables, for example, regardless of whether they are carrying data, electricity and hydraulic power for offshore oil infrastructure or transferring electricity to off- or onshore transformers from wind turbines.

Decommissioning is already gathering pace for oil and gas assets, and lessons learned are starting to be applied to renewable projects coming to the end of their lives.

INTEGRATED SERVICES WITH DEEP DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE

Acteon was created to bring disruptive technologies to the oil and gas industry to lower costs. We now apply the same knowledge, coupled with extensive experience, to other sectors, including offshore wind, to increase efficiency and lower costs through the provision of customer-specific solutions packaged as integrated services. Unlike many companies with roots in the oil and gas sector, we understand the advantages of industrialisation and standardisation, something we have successfully demonstrated by changing the way wells are abandoned from expensive, individual rig-based projects to inexpensive multiwell, multiclient rigless (back-of-boat) campaigns.

Designing, constructing, maintaining and decommissioning wind farms is a complex engineering challenge requiring many specialist yet interrelated disciplines. We believe that the potential for connecting tasks is not presently realised by service providers, as few have the domain expertise, life cycle connective understanding, and skills to provide end-to-end solutions across the asset life cycle.

We are already deeply involved in the renewable energy sector which accounts for over 20% of Acteon’s revenue. Our products and services have been helping to deliver offshore wind projects for over 15 years, during which time we have developed respected expertise and world-leading positions. We are now joining our product and services, and our extensive connective understanding across the life cycle, to further drive LCoE reduction by providing integrated services.

Our deep domain knowledge covers a wide range of renewables life cycle disciplines enabling us to offer solutions aimed at further reducing capital and operational costs. Integration also provides our clients with specialist solutions through a single contact and contract, reducing the time and cost managing multiple interfaces, ultimately helping to lower the LCoE.

So can oil and gas experience help to drive the renewable energy revolution? The answer is yes (we have been doing so for over a decade), but only if the company has the right approach and fully connected life cycle understanding.

Mooring the world’s first floating wind farm

Hywind Scotland, 15 miles off the Aberdeenshire coast, is the world’s first commercial floating wind farm. Acteon applied its extensive oil and gas experience to moor five floating turbine foundations in 129 m of water. The project uses a spar platform design moored to suction caisson anchors.

1https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1580195/offshore-wind-batteries-lcoe-falling-sharply

2https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/first-subsidy-free-offshore-wind-farms-to-power-seven-million-homes-with-electricity-rcxqlxdvj#

floating feature image
Access exclusive content

HARNESS THE POTENTIAL OF FLOATING WIND

Let’s enable innovation.

At Acteon, we know that smart technology and innovation are the key to reduce projects footprints, risk and overall costs.

We leverage our profound, cross-disciplinary understanding and execution of design and engineering interactions across the project life cycle to come up with innovative and creative solutions to the most complex projects.

Download