Innovative Wave Energy Converter for Oil Gas Developments

摘要

Local energy generation (from a few kW for subsea control up to several MW for subsea boosting) is an interesting option forrnfuture Oil & Gas developments, especially for long subsea deepwater tie backs (30 to more than 100 km) where it can avoidrnadditional equipment on the existing production facilities and a long power umbilical.rnOne main challenge of power generation for the Oil & Gas industry is to be able to rely at any time on a defined powerrnwhereas the power generated from most renewable sources is intermittent which leads to the definition of suitable powerrnstorage systems. This trend has already started with limited power supplied to control systems with small wind turbines andrnsolar panels. It will grow up progressively in the near future with larger power for bigger consumers.rnThis paper first gives an overview of the renewable energy sources available for offshore Oil &Gas developments (wind,rnwave, currents, solar, ocean thermal energy, geothermal...) and will present the main technical challenges associated to therncapture and the conversion of the energy.rnThe second part of the paper presents the Swell Barge, a large scale barge equipped with several underwater resonators whosernnumber and locations are optimized according to the site conditions. This innovative wave energy converter has been inventedrnand specifically developed for deepwater applications in order to generate several MWs depending on the wave conditions.rnThe system is passive with a large response spectrum. It is simple, robust and easy to maintain with conventional offshorernmeans. The dimensions of the barge can be adapted to both directional and non-directional wave conditions.