Offshore energy integration crucial to deliver UK net zero

6th August 2020 | Commercial Energy

Integrating offshore oil and gas, offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage could help deliver 30% of the UK’s carbon reduction requirements to get to net zero, according to a new report. The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) Energy Integration Project report highlights the additional potential for offshore wind, wave and tidal to contribute a further 30% towards the UK’s net zero by 2050 target.

The study found that the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) could support, in combination with complementary investments in onshore energy infrastructure, around 60% of the UK’s decarbonisation requirements in total. The report, published with Ofgem, the Crown Estate and BEIS, found oil and gas platform electrification is essential to cutting sector production emissions in the near term, and critical to the industry’s social licence to operate.

Offshore energy

Electrification can achieve a 20% reduction equivalent to today’s production emissions, rising to 40% by 2030. It also highlighted that oil and gas capabilities, infrastructure and supply chain are “crucial to energy integration”, and can potentially support further offshore renewables expansion including floating wind.

Other key findings of the study highlight that green hydrogen can support and enable the significant expansion of offshore renewables in the 2030s and beyond, providing an efficient storage and energy transportation solution. Reducing the costs of the technology involved (electrolysis) would be needed to support the faster uptake of this technology.
OGA chief executive Andy Samuel said, “The UK Continental Shelf has the potential to make a deep and meaningful impact on the UK’s overall net zero target and offshore energy integration can be the game changer. By closely co-ordinating our energy systems a secure energy supply can continue to be delivered from a diverse mix of production, while unlocking more and more of the green energy and carbon capture needed to help take the UK to net zero.”

More information available on the website below

https://www.renews.biz/62251/offshore-energy-integration-crucial-to-deliver-uk-net-zero/