The Anonymous Widower

Cerulean Winds Is A Different Type Of Wind Energy Company

I introduced Cerulean Winds in a post called What Is INTOG?, but I have decided it is too important a concept to be buried in another post.

Cerulean sounds like it could be a sea monster, but it is actually a shade of blue.

This article on offshoreWind.biz is entitled Cerulean Reveals 6 GW Floating Offshore Wind Bid Under INTOG Leasing Round.

These are the two introductory paragraphs.

Green energy infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds has revealed it will bid for four seabed lease sites with a combined capacity of 6 GW of floating wind to decarbonise the UK’s oil and gas sector under Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.

This scale will remove more emissions quickly, keep costs lower for platform operators and provide the anchor for large-scale North-South offshore transmission, Cerulean Winds said.

Note.

1. It is privately-funded project, that needs no government subsidy and will cost £30 billion.
2. It looks like each site will be a hundred turbines.
3. If all the sites are the same, they could be 1.5 GW each, with the use of 15 MW turbines.
4. Each site will need £7.5 billion of investment. So it looks like Cerulean have access to a similar magic money tree as Kwasi Kwarteng.

This paragraph describes their four hundred floating bases.

The steel floating bases would constitute hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel, which unlike cement fixtures, can be floated out from shore which is said to be ideal for the UK.

Building those bases, is a very large project.

On their web site, Cerulean Winds have a page entitled Targeted Oil And Gas Decarbonisation.

This the page’s mission statement.

Cerulean Winds, a green energy & infrastructure developer, is leading a pioneering bid to reduce carbon emissions from oil and gas production through floating offshore wind.

These three paragraphs describe the scheme.

Cerulean Winds pioneering bid proposes an integrated floating wind and hydrogen development across four offshore floating wind farms located West and East of the Shetland Islands and in the North and the South of the Central North Sea (CNS). The objective of the project is to generate electricity from floating wind farms located far offshore on otherwise unallocated and uneconomic seabed areas in order to power oil and gas platforms with green energy.

Cerulean Winds’ dedicated power transmission network will offer both green electrons and green molecules to oil & gas production facilities across the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) with surplus energy used in the production of green hydrogen. This dual approach allows the project to support all ages of oil and gas platforms with constant, reliable power and minimal brownfield modifications.

The optimised scale at which Cerulean Winds’ proposed scheme operates makes it the world’s largest decarbonisation project. It offers green energy to operators for asset power generation, delivered through an affordable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Another big advantage is the scheme does not require any public subsidies, but funded entirely through private investment.

That is sensational.

Effectively, they’re building four 1.5 GW power stations in the seas around us to power a large proportion of the oil and gas rigs.

I do have some thoughts.

Who Pays For This Massive Project?

This project overview on the Cerulean web site is entitled The Cerulean Winds INTOG Scheme and it gives many more details of the project.

I will refer to this page as the project overview in the subsequent text.

This is the first sentence of the first paragraph.

Our basin-wide scheme represents more than £30 billion of private investment in a single strategic infrastructure project.

Consider.

• The London Olympics in 2012 cost £9 billion.
• The Elizabeth Line will probably cost around £20 billion.
• The Channel Tunnel in 1994 cost £9 billion.

This project is a lot bigger than these.

Will your spare fifty pounds, still be in your mattress, when Cerulean Winds has put its £30 billion together?

I think so, as this is the last sentence on the page.

The scheme is ‘private wire’ and will not require Government subsidies… being funded entirely through private investment, with no cost to the tax payer.

There will of course, be tax rebates available, as they are for any business from the smallest to the largest.

Green Hydrogen Will Be Produced Offshore

The project overview says this about green hydrogen.

The scheme would use floating offshore wind to power oil and gas assets with surplus energy converted into green hydrogen. Cerulean Winds recognise each brownfield site has a different set of requirements and this would give operators the flexibility to electrify some Brownfield assets without the need to interrupt existing production or shutdown. It would also safeguard oil and gas jobs and create new green energy jobs within the floating wind and hydrogen sectors within the next five years.

The operator will have a choice of energy – electricity or hydrogen.

How Will The Project Earn An Income?

It appears that the project, will have a number of income streams.

The main stream, is described in this sentence from the project overview on the web site.

We have a deep understanding across the energy sector and will partner with the operator to agree the best way to achieve decarbonisation targets at the lowest possible cost. Our approach offers both green electrons and green molecules to the platforms through an affordable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

It looks like the oil and gas companies that own the rigs will be significant contributors to Cerulean’s cash flow.

Green electrons (electricity) and green molecules (hydrogen) will also be brought ashore and sold to various operators and the grid.

What Happens To The Gas That Is Currently Used To Power The Oil And Gas Rigs?

I do wonder, the gas, which will no longer be needed to power the rigs will give a boost to the supply to UK consumers.

They’ve thought of that one.

Under a heading of Reducing Gas Imports, this is said.

The project also aims to maximise recovery of energy from offshore platforms. With few exceptions, each platform have their own gas turbines for power generation, burning gas extracted from the reservoirs. Approximately 10% of the gas produced each year is used in offshore power generation. By replacing the need for gas power generation with a supply of clean, green energy, Cerulean Winds’ project frees important volumes of gas produced by platforms for consumption and reduces the UK’s import of gas from overseas.

This project, when it is fully implemented could increase UK gas production by up to ten per cent.

What’s In It For The Rig Operators?

They will have some benefits.

• They will cut their carbon dioxide emissions.
• They will sell about ten percent more of the gas they extract.
• Decarbonisation will not necessarily mean large capital expenditure on the rig.
• I also suspect, that some conveniently-placed rigs will be used to send excess hydrogen from Cerulean Winds’ electrolysers to the shore.

Some rig operators will make money from decarbonisation.

When Will The Project Be Complete?

This is the first paragraph on the project overview.

Our basin-wide scheme represents more than £30 billion of private investment in a single strategic infrastructure project. The locations will be West and East of the Shetland Islands and in the Central North Sea (CNS). They will become operational by 2028.

So we don’t have to wait for ever!

What Happens To Cerulean’s Project, When The Oil And Gas Runs Out Or We Stop Using Oil And Gas?

There would now be four 1.5 GW wind farms in the North Sea, that could be connected to the National Grid.

Conclusion

It looks like Cerulean Winds are a very different energy company.

October 2, 2022 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Hydrogen | Cerulean Winds, Decarbonisation, Disruptive Innovation, Floating Wind Power, INTOG, North Sea Oil And Gas, Offshore Operations Decarbonisation