The Impact of Process Heat on the Decarbonisation Potential of Offshore Installations by Hybrid Energy Systems

An opportunity to decarbonise the offshore oil and gas sector lies in the integration of renewable energy sources with energy storage in a hybrid energy system (HES). Such concept enables maximising the exploitation of carbon-free renewable power, while minimising the emissions associated with conve...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2021-12, Vol.14 (23), p.8123
Main Authors: Riboldi, Luca, Pilarczyk, Marcin, Nord, Lars O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Carbon
Carbon dioxide
carbon dioxide footprint
Climate change
Configurations
Crude oil
Decarbonization
Electric power
Electric power generation
Electrolytic cells
Emissions
Energy resources
Energy sources
Energy storage
Fossil fuels
Fuel cells
Fuel technology
Gas turbines
Global warming
Heat
Heat exchangers
Heat recovery
hybrid system
hydrogen
Industrial plant emissions
Offshore
Offshore engineering
offshore wind
Oil and gas industry
Power plants
Process heat
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Renewable energy sources
Renewable resources
Turbines
Waste heat
Wind farms
Wind power
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An opportunity to decarbonise the offshore oil and gas sector lies in the integration of renewable energy sources with energy storage in a hybrid energy system (HES). Such concept enables maximising the exploitation of carbon-free renewable power, while minimising the emissions associated with conventional power generation systems such as gas turbines. Offshore plants, in addition to electrical and mechanical power, also require process heat for their operation. Solutions that provide low-emission heat in parallel to power are necessary to reach a very high degree of decarbonisation. This paper investigates different options to supply process heat in offshore HES, while the electric power is mostly covered by a wind turbine. All HES configurations include energy storage in the form of hydrogen tied to proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers and fuel cells stacks. As a basis for comparison, a standard configuration relying solely on a gas turbine and a waste heat recovery unit is considered. A HES combined with a waste heat recovery unit to supply heat proved efficient when low renewable power capacity is integrated but unable to deliver a total CO2 emission reduction higher than around 40%. Alternative configurations, such as the utilization of gas-fired or electric heaters, become more competitive at large installed renewable capacity, approaching CO2 emission reductions of up to 80%.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en14238123