In focus: Green energy infrastructure blooming despite global economic and political woes

The Russian-Ukraine crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic fallout have had a variety of impacts on the green energy transition, with some of the industries being affected more than others. However, the offshore energy sector has recognized that investments in the clean energy infrastructure must be scaled up to support the broader development, economic and climate agenda.

The renewable energy industry has not been immune to the challenging circumstances of the last two years. As a result, the countries pursuing net-zero goals are grappling with surging prices of materials while also trying to keep on track with green energy infrastructure projects.

The UK government has recently announced support for a number of energy projects, pledging to speed up efforts to unlock additional investments and cut the red tape to make it quicker to deliver these. As a result, five oil and gas developments as well as several carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen, and offshore wind projects are bound to be accelerated.

Recently, the UK government launched its first oil and gas licensing round since 2019 in an effort to boost the country’s energy security.

A review into future offshore oil and gas licensing regime was also launched after the round, as part of the wider aim of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, and the annual licensing activity was paused.

The review was supposed to ensure the government obtained the information needed to plan for future oil and gas production in the UK, in a way that is aligned with tackling climate change.

As for the green marine sector in the UK, the Net Zero Technology Center revealed the 20 winners of its 2022 Open Innovation Programme. The funding competition focused on developing and deploying technologies and the necessary infrastructure that will reduce offshore emissions, accelerate clean energy production, and enable the delivery of the UK’s net zero ambitions.

The net-zero project developers have won £8 million in funding to demonstrate their solutions. These successful technology projects are expected to deliver £7.8 billion gross value added along with an impact of 3.1 Mt CO2 emissions annually.

As for the offshore wind sector in the UK, the country has increased its target to up to 50 GW of operating offshore wind capacity by 2030.

One of the projects that reflects the focus on achieving this target marked a significant milestone this week.

Namely, Vattenfall’s offshore wind-to-hydrogen pilot project in Scotland is said to bring the world its first hydrogen-producing offshore wind turbine as it involves placing an electrolyser directly onto an existing operational turbine at Vattenfall’s 97 MW Aberdeen offshore wind farm, also known as the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre.

The project has advanced towards filing consent applications, with a public consultation event set to be held next month and the developer appointing a UK-based consultancy for the metocean design criteria for the project.

The Nord Stream pipeline, which delivers gas from Russia to Germany via a subsea route through the Baltic Sea, was the victim of apparent sabotage in late September. Multiple leaks, created by what experts believe were underwater explosive devices, led to what the United Nations said is likely the largest single release of methane ever recorded.

In addition to the climate and environmental impacts, which are substantial, the fact that critical infrastructure assets are now targets of attacks has created a new, more fraught reality for owners. 

US-based company C-Power has brought to spotlight the potential role its wave energy technology could play in protecting increasingly important remote offshore assets. The company claims that its SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system (AOPS), which generates power from reliable ocean waves, enables real-time, two-way data and communications.

This solution can be co-located with critical offshore assets, delivering continuous power to the autonomous, digital, resident technologies needed to provide 24/7 security.

The ability to send and receive data in real-time allows those technologies to report threats as they emerge and even receive instructions to perform an operation to avert the threat, according to the US-based firm.

Meanwhile, European and Asian countries are also working on solutions to step away from the Russian gas infrastructure and establish their own interconnections.

The inauguration ceremony for the EuroAsia Interconnector, which will connect Israel, Cyprus and Greece with continental Europe, is scheduled to be held today.

The project is set to end the energy isolation of Cyprus as an EU member as it is the last member state which remains fully isolated without any electricity or gas interconnections. The new electricity link is also expected to reduce the European Union’s energy dependence on Russia, according to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Ports offer great potential when it comes to reducing energy consumption and transitioning to green energy. This week saw several ports establishing green corridors, with the aim to bolster the use of alternative fuels for seagoing vessels.

Belgian North Sea Port and Swedish Port of Gothenburg have come together to establish a green corridor and make the necessary infrastructure adaptations to realize the projects.

Furthermore, the first green hydrogen corridor is being established between southern and northern Europe, with the ports of Rotterdam and Algeciras partnering on the green hydrogen supply chain.

With the Dutch government’s support, and as part of Rotterdam’s energy transition plans, the Port of Rotterdam and many private companies active in the port area are developing the necessary infrastructure and facilities for the import of green hydrogen and its distribution into Northwest Europe connecting large industrial centers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany by means of hydrogen pipelines.

The trade lane is expected to be operational by 2027, according to the port officials.

The aforementioned initiatives go in line with the latest DNV’s energy outlook which suggests that the maritime sector needs to reduce emissions by 95% by 2050, for successful net-zero transition.