6 minute read
Electrification in the European offshore market
Making big waves Electrification in the European offshore market
As the European Union gears up to reach climate neutrality by 2050, electrical equipment is making a splash in the offshore market. And whether we’re supplying air for an oil & gas platform, or assisting the construction of a windmill park, we at Atlas Copco Specialty Rental play our part. Our newly developed air compressors use the latest VSD technology and are more efficient than ever to keep the offshore air free of harmful emissions, as proven by our latest offshore project at the Baltic Pipeline!
What’s the deal with the European Green Deal?
In an effort to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050, this year the European Union wrote out stricter guidelines and regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions as stated in the European Green Deal. The programme, covering industries such as transportation, ICT, agriculture and offshore, plans to cut all harmful emissions (such as CO2, carbon dioxide) by 55% by 2030, versus those measured in 1990 by promoting renewable energy such as electricity as opposed to the use of fossil fuels.
All aboard sustainability!
Atlas Copco has already undertaken solid efforts to reduce CO2 emissions: in March 2021 we achieved a 28% re-
duction in operations and transporta-
tion, compared to 2018. Our goal for 2030 is to push it even further back to 50% using sustainable methods such as developing electric machinery, buying renewable electricity, installing solar panels, and switching to biofuels in portable compressor testing.
The entire North Sea is following suit as well: many windmill parks are being developed right now, and more are sure to come in the next decade. Apart from windmill farms, the North Sea harbours 150 oil & gas drilling platforms. These depend on offshore or onshore electricity networks to supply the 10 to 50 MW needed per average platform, to keep their systems going (water purification, lighting and heating) but also to power their machinery (drilling oil and gas fields and pumping and purifying their product).
Worldwide, about 5% of the gained fuel on oil & gas platforms is immediately reused to man the machinery aboard, resulting in a global 200 met-
ric tonnes of C02 emissions per year. It’s worth to consider shifting gears: connecting platforms to an electric network (as with windmill farms) could lead to a CO2 reduction of 0,5 to 1 Mt per year in The Netherlands alone.
What’s new in our Rental electric air compressor series?
All of the advantages in the blue box are applicable even if you only temporarily use these electric machines. That’s where we come in. Atlas Copco Specialty Rental recently designed and invested in a new series of sustainable and efficient electric air compressors for all offshore applications.
Our three new in-house developed machines V1100 (oil-injected), PTE 900 (oil-free) and PBE 1600 (oil-free) have been equipped to supply clean air using the latest Variable Speed Drive technology. These VSD compressors closely follow air demand and automatically adjust the motor speed, resulting in energy and cost savings up to 35%! As the power need depends on the air demand, the startup of the machines also requires less power and peak-shaving during production is standard.
No longer in the pipeline, but in the Baltic Pipeline!
When Saipem, the engineering and technological platform for sustainability, asked us to supply temporary air for pipeline blasting, we immediately drew out a set-up in our 3D modelling programme to illustrate our ideal solution: three of our newest electric air compressors, the V1100 VSD’s, combined with two dryers, two filters and two air receivers.
The Castoro Sei, Saipem’s semi-submersible pipelay vessel, is currently supporting the construction of the Baltic Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline in the North Sea between Poland and Denmark, which will be finished in October 2022.
If you have any questions about our electric air compressors, our other projects in Offshore or our Rental solutions, do get in touch!
Frank van den Heiligenberg
Sales Engineer Offshore, Marine, Oil & Gas Upstream
Atlas Copco Specialty Rental
M +31 6 5340 0437 E frank.van.den.heiligenberg@ atlascopco.com W www.atlascopcorental.com
The Industry Contribution is a section in which companies share their business endeavors or market analyses. Please contact us at jp@navingo.com for inquiries.
7 GREAT REASONS TO CHOOSE ELECTRIC-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS OFFSHORE
1. They reduce our ecological footprint and reduce harmful emissions in general 2. They are inherently safe to work around, without hot parts potentially causing injury or the risk of combustible fuels in a hazardous environment. 3. You only need a plug-in: fuel transportation and logistics are out of the equation. There’s no need for a fuel tank either, which leaves more room for your technicians to work in. 4.The noise levels are strongly reduced as there is no combustion motor running. 5. Possible ground contamination through spillage of motor oil is completely avoided. 6.Electric-driven machines need less service and have lower maintenance intervals than their diesel driven counterparts. 7. Most electric air compressors are equipped with modern VSD technology (see article).
’Three V1100 VSD electric air compressors combined with two dryers, two filters and two air receivers, as designed in 3D for Saipem’
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