An Integrated Assessment of the Environmental and Economic Impact of Offshore Oil Platform Electrification

Luca Riboldi, Steve Völler, Magnus Korpås and Lars O. Nord
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Luca Riboldi: Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology-NTNU, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Steve Völler: Department of Electric Power Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology-NTNU, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
Magnus Korpås: Department of Electric Power Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology-NTNU, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
Lars O. Nord: Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology-NTNU, 7491 Trondheim, Norway

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: Electrification of offshore oil and gas installations on the Norwegian continental shelf is one of several options to decrease the CO 2 emitted from these installations. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding how the increased electricity consumption will influence the CO 2 emissions in the power market, both in the short-run and in the long-run. This paper aims to address the issue and investigate the feasibility of the electrification of a large offshore area in the North Sea in comparison to standard concepts to supply energy offshore. A novel integrated model was developed for the purpose that includes and combines a process model of the offshore power generation units and a model of the European power system. The integration of the two models allows to simultaneously simulate the behavior of the offshore energy conversion systems and the effect of electrification on the onshore power system. The outcomes of the analysis show that the environmental performance of electrification is strongly affected by the selected approach to quantify the CO 2 emissions associated with power from shore. Taking standard methods to supply offshore energy as basis for comparison, the marginal effect of electrification would result in increased CO 2 emissions (+40%), while the average effect would entail large reductions in CO 2 emissions (−48% to −90%), the extent of which depends on the geographical scope selected. An analysis on the economics of electrification indicates that its economic viability would be challenging and would not be favoured by a strong European commitment towards environmental policies since the expected increase of power price will outbalance the gains for the reduced emission costs.

Keywords: oil & gas; energy supply; power from shore; power system; CO 2 emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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