In focus: Boosting energy transition by joining forces

The last weeks witnessed the major industry players joining forces for energy transition programs and decarbonising their operations and production.

By working together, they will be able to achieve the climate goals faster, ensuring that energy transition mechanisms become more attainable and cheaper.

Such an example is given by Ping Petroleum, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Dagang NeXchange Berhad (DNeX), and Cerulean Winds, signing an agreement which will see the creation of one of the UK’s first wind-powered oil and gas production facilities.

Under this contract, the production facility at Ping Petroleum’s Avalon site, located in the UK Central North Sea, will be mainly powered by floating offshore wind, helping the project meet the emissions reduction targets agreed between government and industry in the North Sea Transition Deal in March 2021.

The provision of wind power will remove up to 20,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions every year from the offshore production facility, and demonstrate the use of floating offshore wind in decarbonising oil and gas production.

The project partners claim that this will be one of the largest floating wind turbines built in the UK.

Another example is a cooperation agreement between French classification society Bureau Veritas (BV), Hong Kong-based shipowner Wah Kwong and Shanghai Qiyao Environmental Technology, for the feasibility study on installing carbon capture and storage (CCS) units on ships.

Under this deal, the parties will look into the feasibility of installing CCS units on existing ships to meet 2030 Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) targets.

As explained, the study will focus on two types of bulk carriers in operation in the Wah Kwong fleet.

Also, Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with six South Korean companies recently, to study the feasibility of a full value chain related to CO2 capture, transport and storage.

Under the MoU, the companies will evaluate potential CO2 storage sites in Malaysia and explore other areas across the CCS value chain, including cross-border CO2 transportation.

Another important agreement was inked earlier this week between German oil and gas company Wintershall Dea and compatriot pipeline operator Nord-West Oelleitung (NWO) for the BlueHyNow hydrogen production plant in Wilhelmshaven.

The two companies plan to complete a feasibility study for this project by the end of the year.

Hydrogen is a crucial component for a climate-neutral energy supply. However, Germany faces a significant capacity gap.

According to current forecasts, hydrogen demand will rise from 55 TWh/year today to 90 – 110 TWh/year as early as 2030.

The Greek Parliament passed a bill last week comprising regulations on the permitting of offshore wind projects and their development and operation, marking the country’s first legislative move on offshore wind energy.

The bill – Provisions for the simplification of environmental licensing, establishing a framework for the development of Offshore Wind Farms, dealing with the energy crisis, environmental protection and other provisions – consists of five parts and several “interventions” covering various segments concerning environment and energy, including offshore wind and natural gas, as well as land use and circular economy.

The part on offshore wind lays the groundwork for permitting and development and operation of offshore wind farms, as well as the tendering procedure, with an aim of reaching 2 GW of installed capacity by 2030.

A very interesting wave energy pilot project took place in Israel earlier this week.

Under this program, Eco Wave Power kicked off test runs of its newly installed EWP-EDF One wave energy scheme at the Port of Jaffa in Tel Aviv.

During the testing, the Eco Wave Power floaters were lowered to the water and tested for the first time, resulting in a green light for the next phases of the project, which will include grid connection and testing of the overall system, followed by full operation.

Once testing and final works are completed, including the grid connection, the company will have an official launch of its power station.

On 1 August, Eco Wave Power’s engineering team met with representatives from the Israeli Electric Company (IEC) to coordinate the next steps for the actual grid connection works.