The North Sea Renewables Grid will be an offshore integrated green power and transmission system in the Central North Sea that will feature floating wind farms to provide clean energy to oil and gas platforms to offset millions of tonnes of production emissions

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Cerulean Winds reveals plans to develop the North Sea Renewables Grid project with an investment of £20bn. (Credit: Jose Antonio Alba from Pixabay)

Cerulean Winds, a green energy and infrastructure developer, has revealed plans to develop the North Sea Renewables Grid (NSRG) project with an investment of £20bn with an aim to offer green energy to offshore assets.

The North Sea Renewables Grid will be an offshore integrated green power and transmission system. It will feature floating wind farms to provide clean energy to oil and gas platforms.

Cerulean Winds along with its partner Frontier Power International intend to install hundreds of floating turbines across three sites spanning an area of 333km² to generate multiple GW of clean energy.

In March 2023, the companies were awarded three lease options in the Central North Sea in the Crown Estate Scotland innovation and targeted oil and gas (INTOG) round.

Frontier Power founding partner Humza Malik said: “Each windfarm site is located within 100km of the others and will be connected together to form the offshore ring main around the Central North Sea.

“A High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) transmission will provide availability and redundancy for maximising generation uptime.  The scale allows for offtake to other parts of the North Sea through a new High Voltage Direct Current (HDVC) network.”

The delivery consortium of partners for the North Sea Renewables Grid project include Siemens Gamesa, NOV, Siemens Energy, DEME, and Worley.

Phase 1 of the renewable energy project in the North Sea will be centred on oil and gas operators to facilitate their brownfield modifications.

The future phases of the North Sea Renewables Grid project are anticipated to focus on exporting clean energy to the grids across the southern UK and Europe.

Cerulean Winds said that both the scale and location close together in the Central North Sea will facilitate the construction of a new basin-wide offshore transmission system that can be accessed by platforms.

According to the company, the North Sea Renewables Grid project will eliminate millions of tonnes of production emissions by replacing gas and diesel generation with a flexible, cost-effective, and greener alternative.

Cerulean Winds founding director Dan Jackson said: “Early oil and gas electrification supports the country’s energy security, net zero action and delivers huge benefits to the supply chain and economy, creating 10,000 jobs.

“With our partners we will accelerate access to green power and provide the infrastructure for the next phase of the North Sea’s life.”