US company Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) says its PowerBouy technology has the potential to redefine power platforms in the offshore oil and gas sector.
Its plan is to transfer a technology that has carved markets in the maritime renewables and defence markets and which managing director Tim Silvin could help drive down capital and operating expenditures and in particular help make current fields that offer low commercial returns more attractive.
The company is understood to be in dialogue with Premier Oil and currently has a number of tenders out. Moreover, it is launching a push at Offshore Europe.
For the past 15 years, OPT has been providing moored, floating buoys that harvest energy from waves. The buoys are autonomous and capable of delivering energy from a few kilowatts to several 100kw, with even higher capacity generators under development.
On-board intelligence continuously monitors the performance of the various subsystems and environment with data transmitted to shore in real time.
In the event of large oncoming waves, the system automatically locks up and ceases power production. In this event, on-board batteries ensure that power is still available and when the wave heights return to normal, the system unlocks and resumes generating.
Potential offshore industry applications include:
- UUV garages for permanent infield monitoring/inspection of assets . . . an in-situ power source that can be used to power docking mechanisms, communications systems and to recharge UUVs.
- The control of electric trees for CO2/water field injection . . . powering remote electric trees to potentially reduce both facility and installation costs for trees and controls
- Environmental monitoring for pre-post deployment . . . real-time on site field monitoring/sensing systems for 4D reservoir analysis and pre/post deployment surveys
- Real-time environmental monitoring to ensure assets are deployed and used correctly to minimise downtime.
- Safe, reliable and flexible monitoring of environmental parameters is key to proactive prevention and measurement, particularly during an incident
- Security cordons for offshore developments, real time surveillance and monitoring will be required, particularly moving into deeper water. This would act as a deterrent for both hostile and malicious sources of damage, increasing the safety of infrastructure and reducing the cost of repair
- Temporary navigational markers for surface & submerged structures
OPT claims it provides a more reliable and flexible alternative to current power sources. The company says too that its power buoys could in certain cases replace diesel usage on offshore assets, meaning current fields that offer low commercial returns could be more attractive.
The firm has assembled a library of case studies of its buoys at work. This includes a type APB-350 PowerBuoy deployed by the US Navy and which not only survived Hurricane Irene, it continued to produce power in 8m seas. A post-hurricane inspection showed no damage.
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