Multinational energy and petroleum company TotalEnergies has launched a pilot project to provide renewable energy to an oil and gas platform in the North Sea through a 3MW floating wind turbine.
The turbine will be located 2km west of the Culzean platform, which is 220km off the eastern coast of Scotland.
TotalEnergies expects the turbine to supply approximately 20% of Culzean’s power requirements, in addition to the electricity it already provides through gas turbines.
The turbine will be installed on a modular, light semi-submersible floater hull designed by wind energy equipment manufacturer Ocergy, which is backed by Octopus Energy.
The project, scheduled to be fully operational by the close of 2025, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as part of a wider company strategy to decarbonise offshore assets.
It was selected in Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing round, which is designed to encourage and support the use of offshore wind energy to directly supply offshore oil and gas platforms.
TotalEnergies owns 49.99% of the Culzean field, one of its flagship offshore facilities, while BP owns 32% and JX Nippon 18.01%.
The field produced its first gas in 2019, and its life cycle is predicted to be at least 13 years.
TotalEnergies chief technology officer Marie-Noelle Semeria commented: “This pilot project aims at proving the concept of hybridisation of power generation on an offshore facility, by integrating the generation of renewable electricity from a floating wind turbine with the existing power generation from gas turbines. It also aims at qualifying a promising floater design for the future of floating offshore wind.”
The company is currently deploying its Integrated Power strategy in the UK, which combines renewable power production and flexible power generation capacities. Its renewable portfolio in the country includes 1.1GW of gross installed capacity and 4.5GW under development.
TotalEnergies has also been expanding its international wind power portfolio in 2024, securing the rights to develop offshore wind farms in Germany and purchasing a 50% stake in the OranjeWind wind farm in the Netherlands in July.
