The North Sea Renewables Grid (NSRG), is a ‘basin-wide’ green power generation and transmission system that will supply low carbon power to oil and gas assets with excess green power available to export to grid or other onshore users.
Once complete, NSRG will be one of the largest floating offshore wind farms in the World (three 333km2 sites). This ambitious project will deliver over £4 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) for the UK and thousands of much needed green jobs.
Location
Located in the Central North Sea, there will be three connected wind farms (Aspen, Beech and Cedar), over 300 turbines, to generate 3GW+ of renewable green energy.
The strategic distribution of the three sites in relation to the oil & gas (O&G) facilities (both existing, currently under development and future) maximises O&G decarbonisation potential via electrification.
How NSRG works
Each floating windfarm site is located within 100km of the others and will be connected together to form the offshore ring main around the Central North Sea. A High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) transmission will provide availability and redundancy for maximising generation uptime.
The scale allows for offtake to other parts of the North Sea through a new High Voltage Direct Current (HDVC) network.
Timeline
The dates summarise the key milestone dates that are being targeted for the consent applications and project development phase for aspects of the NSRG, and upon which this Sectorial Marine Plan (SMP) strategy is based.
Collaboration and stakeholder alignment
We strived to bring together government, the regulator, developers and operators for candid discussions about how we accelerate the North Sea energy transition. We have spent time engaging with the oil and gas industry, the supply chain and government, determined to come up with a solution that delivers maximum value.
As a result the NSRG project will align stakeholders across policy, commercial drivers and imperatives as well as economic and supply chain benefits.
Our contractor consortium
At the outset Cerulean secured, as exclusive partners, a suite of tier 1 industrial partners (delivery consortium) to develop, supply and install the NSRG. This approach is based on the Developers’ extensive experience in the offshore oil and gas industry where such contracting strategies are well understood. The Developers have built this delivery consortium approach into their NSRG development strategy to make robust deliverability a key strength of the overall proposition.
The Just Transition
The NSRG can play a crucial part in the ‘Just Transition’ planning for Scotland, building strong partnerships between business, unions and local authorities as well as public bodies and key industrial working groups.
Our scheme not only helps to avoid climate catastrophe, but also gives significant social benefits and a return on investment for the economy.
Reducing carbon emissions
The project supports the deployment of renewable wind energy to decarbonise the offshore oil and gas sector, while growing and promoting Scotland’s domestic capacity to realise the benefits for the Scottish supply chain.
The oil and gas sector is not only an important contributor to Scotland’s GVA; more than ever it is central to Scotland’s and UK member states’ energy security strategies. It remains however a carbon-intensive industry with millions of tonnes of CO2 emitted every year.
Power Purchase Agreements
By providing a basin-wide solution to electrification of oil and gas facilities, efficiencies and economies can be made compared to individual operator-led schemes, bringing about lower cost of electrification and, in many cases, earlier decarbonisation.
Our approach offers green electrons to the platforms through an affordable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
By taking this approach we provide an assured solution for any oil and gas operators to connect their proximate facilities.
Accelerating the energy transition
Our strong partnerships ensure we can continue to deliver our pipeline of successful and pioneering projects at pace and with greater reach meaningfully contributing to the renewable energy supply, supporting net zero targets and providing energy security.