TotalEnergies invests in collaborative wave power subsea project

TotalEnergies has joined the Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) project, which is currently powering subsea equipment off the east coast of Orkney in Scotland, with wave power from Mocean Energy and intelligent subsea energy storage from Verlume.    

The £2 million demonstrator initiative has connected the Blue X wave energy converter – built by Edinburgh company Mocean Energy – with a Halo underwater battery storage system developed by Aberdeen intelligent energy management specialists Verlume.

The fully operational project aims to show how green technologies can be combined to provide reliable low carbon power and communications to subsea equipment, offering a cost-effective alternative to umbilical cables, which are carbon intensive with long lead times to procure and install.

TotalEnergies, supported by its ocean energy R&D team based in France, will now join project leads Mocean Energy and Verlume, alongside industry players Baker Hughes, Serica Energy, Harbour Energy, Transmark Subsea, PTTEP and the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC).

Joining RSP offers TotalEnergies access to all data and results from the extended test program, taking place at a site 5 km east of the Orkney mainland. TotalEnergies will also be able to offer input to test plans and will be provided with a feasibility assessment of the use of RSP technology at a location of their choice. 

It is anticipated that participation will support TotalEnergies’ activities both in the UK and overseas addressing the wider energy transition across their production and energy products, as it aims to become carbon net zero, together with society, by 2050.

Dave MacKinnon, TotalEnergies’ technology, data & innovation manage, said: “Our participation in RSP demonstrates how important it is to us to pursue new ideas and technology that will support the decarbonization of our oil and gas production business, both here in the UK and across the world. We’re pleased to be participating and look forward to seeing the results of this collaboration.”

Ian Crossland, commercial director at Mocean Energy, added: “TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company and this new investment underscores the international interest in the potential of our combined technologies. 

“TotalEnergies has a long history in Scotland and an incredible track record in offshore operations, and their experience will be extremely valuable as we begin to commercialize our Blue Star product line.”

The Orkney deployment is the third phase of the RSP project. In 2021, the consortium invested £1.6 million into phase two of the program – which saw the successful integration of the core technologies in an onshore test environment at Verlume’s operations facility in Aberdeen.

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