Shell Innovation Challenge

Team Members: Sarthak Bapat, Shobhit Kumar, Vishesh Sharma (APE-GAS 3rd Year, UPES)

A Model for Hybrid Energy System on an Offshore Rig:

An Approach Using Tidal Energy

“Society today faces a challenge on an unprecedented scale: how to meet increasing

energy needs while reducing carbon emissions.”
- Ben van Beurden (CEO, Royal Dutch Shell)

Hydrocarbons are the major source of energy. Its increasing demand has made the hydrocarbon exploration
go beyond the shore. Offshore Rig power requirements are higher compared to onshore rigs. Diesel
Generators are conventionally used for the power requirements of offshore rigs. This project aims to suggest
an idea to use the renewable sources of energy (mainly tidal energy) for energy generation in offshore.

The idea is to have a Hybrid energy system, in which both the renewable and non-renewable sources of
energy can co-exist together in a symbiotic relationship. The energy harnessed from tidal waves shall be
used to meet the power requirements of offshore rig alongside the diesel generator. This would result in
overall more efficient and cost-effective energy generation. Wave energy would be harnessed by offshore
water turbines installed on the offshore rig; on which the motion of turbines wings will be transferred to the
generator which will produce electricity. The energy generated would be transferred to rig via wires and can
be stored in batteries for further usage on the rig.

A prototype is modelled for the offshore turbine and energy generation is shown using dynamo and wing. There
is a need of an alternative source of energy in offshore rigs because of high environmental impact of diesel
generators and other problems associated with it. Given the current global scenario and advancements in
Electric automobile market, there is an exigency for a Hybrid energy system to meet the upcoming energy
needs and boost the Global Energy Infra.

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Continuous power is one of the most quintessential needs for the oil and gas sector. The avenue that we
aim to explore here is the use of tidal energy to generate power for various operations throughout the rig.
With the use of floats, which are energy harvesters that move in accordance to the motion of the waves and
harvest their energy. The energy generated by these waves are a factor of the peak, which is the apex of the
wave, the trough, which is the bottom part of a wave, separation between the peak and the trough and
finally, the frequency of these waves. The higher the frequency of the waves are the higher is the energy
generated.

The physical capacity of tidal energy worldwide is estimated at 3 TW (3,000,000 MW) (source: IEA-OES
Annual Report, 2009). With current technologies it is assumed that at least 60,000 MW of the resource
are technically extractable. Tidal energy is a clean, safe and reliable source of energy. It is a form of
hydrokinetic power, which is harvested by capturing the energy from tidal currents and converting it into
electricity. The main challenge is to install these turbines in the oceans and maintain them there at
acceptable and competitive costs

As the same vessels are used for offshore drilling and for installation of cables and tidal turbines, the marine
renewables could improve CAPEX savings by 15-20 per cent. One of these projects set to take advantage
of these events is MeyGen tidal project developed by Atlantis, located off the northern coast of Scotland.

Powering an offshore rig is not cheap. A diesel generator powering an entire rig can use upwards of 20–30
m3 diesel fuel per day according to the leading oil and gas association IPIECA. As such, it is important to
look for ways to reduce power usage on the rig and ensure that it is efficient.

One of the products which has been commercialized that is developed to power offshore rigs is
PowerBuoys. This product is being developed by a company called Ocean Power Technologies. Wave
power is produced through the use of buoys and, while this can’t generate enough to power heavy
operations, it can help to supply power for minor operations such as monitoring equipment. More
monitoring is also being done remotely, lessening the power burden on rigs. The buoys can also store
energy, which makes this a unique option for a backup power system as well.

About the tidal range, the upfront costs associated with installation are high, however, they hold good pay-
back properties over the longer term.

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Some estimates taken from web based sources, for the largest and oldest tidal range installation in La Rance,
indicate that costs range from EUR 0.04 (Lena, 1998) to EUR 0.09-0.12/kWh (Wyre Energy Ltd., 2013),
The Sihwa power plant in South Korea, is the largest tidal range installation in the world, is estimated to
have cost around USD 300 million and produce electricity for USD 0.024/kWh (Wyre Energy Ltd., 2013).

These facilities generate electricity with the use of tidal barrages that rely on ocean level manipulation, thus
potentially having the same environmental effects as hydroelectric dams. Tidal energy is considered as an
intermittent source of energy, as it can only provide electricity when the tide surges, which happen about
approximately 10 hours per day on average. The time and cost overruns can be huge for tidal power plants,
which led to some of them being cancelled, such as UK’s Severn Barrage.

The plants that harness this type of energy are linked to higher upfront costs that are required for
construction. Thus, tidal energy displays a lack of cost-effectiveness and efficiency in the world’s energy
market.

Our project is mainly focused on the alternative search of energy, which is used in offshore rigs operations,
as the conventional sources of electricity here is diesels generators. We are trying to generate electricity by
tidal waves of ocean for which we are trying to implant our model outcome on offshore rig platform. This
can be achieved by converting wave energy to electrical energy using dynamo. This alternative source of
electricity will reduce the cost and increase the reliability of offshore rigs with the help of tidal turbine and
enable the drive toward lower cost per kilowatt renewable energy for the rig.

As emission of CO2 is major factor for causing global warming, which is being generated by emission
through diesel generator, which can be reduced by our hybridizing renewable energy source to this non-
renewable energy source. As diesel is not fully substituted but can be used along with the additional source
of energy (Tidal wave energy) which will be helpful in reducing the overall cost involved in operating
offshore rig operation as well as developed an efficient and effective hybrid model of energy generation.

The creation of the overall model has given us a great insight on as to how it can be challenging to create a
working model and make us ponder about the various challenges that we can encounter when
implementing the model in real life. The aquarium housing to simulate the offshore scenario has been
obtained along with a wave generator of appropriate power, the model turbine has also been selected and
tested to work along with the model.

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The average price for offshore oil-drilling rigs is approximately $650 million and the cost for one diesel
generator (Caterpillar C175-16) is approximately $625,000 whereas cost for one offshore turbine is nearly
$250,000 with energy generation efficiency of 80% which is way better than any diesel generator out there.
An offshore rig roughly occupies an area of 0.01 Km2 which requires a much smaller turbine and setting
up costs reduce drastically. The power requirement as an additional source can accomplished by a smaller
pit or bulb turbine using a set of 2 or 3 consisting of 1 or 2 turbines per set. One of the problems that is
space constraint on the offshore rig can be eliminated by these turbines as the diameter of such turbines
are 5.35 meters. By installing 5 such turbines will be requiring the space of 1600 m2, cost of $2 million
(including the installation cost) and the output power will be approximately 1.0MW.

The major challenges obtained in the project has been creating a waterproof housing for the dynamo and
turbine and the major question that we must answer is how in real life situations can we protect the turbine
and apparatus from the saline water of the seas and gulfs.

The major challenges in the practical application is the type of wave motion that is required to generate
feasible amount of energy and the further study on it has help us understand in positioning and the wave
generator and understanding the orientation of the turbine blades. Optimization of turbine blades is
required to produce better results.

Hence, the after analyzing the space requirement, cost of installation and output power, we can clearly see
that the installation of offshore turbines with conventional diesel generators on offshore oil rigs will be a
profitable way to reduce carbon emission.