A newly-designed subsea power grid will be ready for testing by next summer, with final preparations for the system currently underway.
Siemens has invested in the power solution, which aims to provide energy at a lower cost.
An update on the project was provided to an audience of industry workers at Deep Offshore Technology International 2014 (2014) in Aberdeen.
The company’s head of global sales, Espen Bostadlokken, said the power grid was still on track for 2016.
Siemens have been developing the power grid for a number of years which will have the potential to be used on the sea bed at depths of down to 3,000 metres.
He said: “We started this programme in 2010 after seeing the market need coming.
“In the Siemens development programme the prototypes are coming together, and the next challenge is to make the system operate and prepare for real field life in combination with the processing system.
“In order to achieve the highest availability of power distribution subsea, it is important to deliver an integrated power system with a high grade of flexibility to be integrated into the field’s subsea processing system.
“The power system must have standardised and configurable interfaces to have an optimal fit with the processing system.
“The integrity of the power system is governed by a dedicated power control and monitoring system which enable transparent and standardised communication to all the power modules.
“I’m glad the industry is discussing different methods because we need to be discussing more ways we can collaborate in a cost-effective way.”
Siemens have been working on creating the subsea power grid, which could potentially boost the production capacity of reservoirs on the sea bed and exploit smaller reservoirs that would have previously been too expensive.
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