TotalEnergies’ floating offshore wind project to power UK oil & gas platform

France’s TotalEnergies plans to launch a floating offshore wind pilot project to supply renewable energy to the Culzean offshore platform in the UK North Sea.

The 3 MW floating wind turbine will be located two kilometers west of the Culzean platform, 220 kilometers off the eastern coast of Scotland.

The wind turbine is planned to be installed on a modular, light semi-submersible floater hull designed by Ocergy, allowing for fast assembly and optimized costs, said TotalEnergies.

Expected to be fully operational by the end of next year, the turbine will supply around 20% of Culzean’s power requirement, thereby reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the company.

The pilot project was selected in Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing round in 2023.

The INTOG process allowed developers to apply for seabed rights to develop offshore wind projects that either reduce emissions from the North Sea oil and gas sector – by supplying renewable electricity directly to oil and gas infrastructure (TOG) – or consist of small-scale (IN) innovative projects of 100 MW or less.  

The proposed projects are for up to 449 MW of capacity for IN and up to 5 GW for TOG projects. Crown Estate Scotland will offer a seabed lease of 25 years for IN projects and 50 years for TOG projects.

When it comes to TotalEnergies, the company operates around 30% of the UK Continental Shelf’s gas production, with an average daily production of 142,000 barrels of oil, TotalEnergies said.

The firm is deploying its Integrated Power strategy in the UK, which combines renewable power production and flexible power generation capacities. Its renewable portfolio in the county includes 1.1 GW of gross installed capacity (Seagreen offshore wind farm) and 4.5 GW under development.