Challenges with integration and operation of offshore oil & gas platforms connected to an offshore wind power plant

Interconnecting offshore wind power plants with oil and gas installations (O&G) can create a positive symbiosis for both installations. An O&G installation may reduce the emissions generated by gas turbines installed on platforms and the wind farm may reduce the investment costs by removing expensive transmission links to the shore. The power demand of an O&G-installation lies in the same range as a small to medium sized wind power plant. This paper analyzes methods of maintaining secure operation of such offshore interconnected power systems. The combination of high reliability requirements and low system inertia is challenging. Hence, an adequate overall control strategy is of major importance. As such interconnected systems are not yet implemented, this paper is based on a system with typical ratings. The first and main part demonstrates how wind turbines can contribute to an improved robustness and stability of the system. This is realized through a control concept called inertia emulation. The second part of the paper quantifies the impact on O&G operations in terms of fuel saving and wind variability issues.

[1]  Magnus Korpås,et al.  A Case-Study on Offshore Wind Power Supply to Oil and Gas Rigs , 2012 .

[2]  Kjetil Uhlen,et al.  Integration of offshore wind farm with multiple oil and gas platforms , 2011, 2011 IEEE Trondheim PowerTech.

[3]  S. D'Arco,et al.  Droop regulated VSCs for island operation of future offshore systems , 2011, 2011 IEEE Trondheim PowerTech.

[4]  Magnus Korpås,et al.  Electrification of offshore petroleum installations with offshore wind integration , 2013 .

[5]  Atle Rygg Årdal.  Feasibility Studies on Integrating Offshore Wind Power with Oil Platforms , 2011 .

[6]  Qing-Chang Zhong,et al.  Synchronverters: Inverters That Mimic Synchronous Generators , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[7]  Jon Are Suul,et al.  Virtual synchronous machines — Classification of implementations and analysis of equivalence to droop controllers for microgrids , 2013, 2013 IEEE Grenoble Conference.

[8]  Harald G. Svendsen,et al.  Study of Offshore Wind as Power Supply to Oil and Gas Platforms , 2012 .

[9]  S. Santoso,et al.  Understanding inertial and frequency response of wind power plants , 2012, 2012 IEEE Power Electronics and Machines in Wind Applications.

[10]  E. Ela,et al.  Active Power Control from Wind Power , 2011 .

[11]  Tore Undeland,et al.  Voltage and Frequency Control in Offshore Wind Turbines Connected to Isolated Oil Platform Power Systems , 2012 .

[12]  Jan Pierik,et al.  Inertial response of variable speed wind turbines , 2006 .

[13]  Magne Lorentzen Kolstad,et al.  Grid integration of offshore wind power and multiple oil and gas platforms , 2013, 2013 MTS/IEEE OCEANS - Bergen.

[14]  K. Clark,et al.  Frequency responsive wind plant controls: Impacts on grid performance , 2011, 2011 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting.

[15]  Kjetil Uhlen,et al.  The Potential of Integrating Wind Power with Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms , 2010 .

[16]  Tore Undeland,et al.  Parametric sensitivity of transients in an islanded system with an offshore wind farm connected to an oil platform , 2011, Proceedings of the 2011 14th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications.