The North Sea through the energy transition

Abstract. The energy transition means that more and more wind farms are being built in favorable offshore sites like the North Sea. The wind farms affect each other as they interact with the boundary layer flow. This phenomenon is a topic of current research by the industry and academia as it can have significant technical and financial impacts. In the present study, we use data from the Alpha Ventus wind farm site to investigate the effects of inter-farm interactions. Alpha Ventus is the first offshore German wind farm located in the North Sea with a fully equipped measurement platform, FINO1, in the near vicinity. We look at the effects on the wind conditions measured at FINO1 before and after the beginning of operation of the neighboring farms. We show how measured quantities like turbulence intensity, wind speed distributions, and wind shear are evolving from the period when the park was operating alone in the area to the period when farms were built and operate in close proximity (1.4–15 km). Moreover, we show how the wind turbine's response in terms of loads and generator and pitch activity is affected using data from a turbine that is in the vicinity of the mast. The results show the wake effects in the directions influenced by the wind farms according to their distance with increased turbulence intensity, reduced wind speeds, and increased structural loading.

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Offshore Windfarm Footprint of Sediment Organic Matter Mineralization Processes

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.632243 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Emil De Borger ◽

Evgeny Ivanov ◽

Arthur Capet ◽

Ulrike Braeckman ◽

Jan Vanaverbeke ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

North Sea ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Deposition Fluxes ◽

Southern Bight ◽

Marine Life ◽

The North ◽

The North Sea ◽

Mineralization Processes ◽

Sediment Layers

Offshore windfarms (OWFs) offer part of the solution for the energy transition which is urgently needed to mitigate effects of climate change. Marine life has rapidly exploited the new habitat offered by windfarm structures, resulting in increased opportunities for filter- and suspension feeding organisms. In this study, we investigated the effects of organic matter (OM) deposition in the form of fecal pellets expelled by filtering epifauna in OWFs, on mineralization processes in the sediment. OM deposition fluxes produced in a 3D hydrodynamic model of the Southern Bight of the North Sea were used as input in a model of early diagenesis. Two scenarios of OWF development in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS) and its surrounding waters were calculated and compared to a no-OWF baseline simulation. The first including constructed OWFs as of 2021, the second containing additional planned OWFs by 2026. Our results show increased total mineralization rates within OWFs (27–30%) in correspondence with increased deposition of reactive organic carbon (OC) encapsulated in the OM. This leads to a buildup of OC in the upper sediment layers (increase by ∼10%) and an increase of anoxic mineralization processes. Similarly, denitrification rates within the OWFs increased, depending on the scenario, by 2–3%. Effects were not limited to the OWF itself: clear changes were noticed in sediments outside of the OWFs, which were mostly opposite to the “within-OWF” effects. This contrast generated relatively small changes when averaging values over the full modeling domain, however, certain changes, such as for example the increased storage of OC in sediments, may be of significant value for national / regional carbon management inventories. Our results add to expectations of ecosystem-wide effects of windfarms in the marine environments, which need to be researched further given the rapid rate of expansion of OWFs.

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Cross-border petroleum geology in the North Sea: an introduction

Geological Society London Special Publications ◽

10.1144/sp494-2021-182 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. SP494-2021-182

Author(s):

Stuart G. Archer ◽

Henk Kombrink ◽

Stefano Patruno ◽

Domenico Chiarella ◽

Christopher Jackson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Near Field ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Oil And Gas Exploration ◽

Cross Border ◽

The North ◽

The North Sea ◽

Data Continuity

AbstractThe North Sea has entered a phase of infrastructure-led exploration in an attempt to extend the economic lives of the main fields and arrest the overall production decline to a certain extent, while the transition to a future low-carbon use of the basin is also in progress. As the papers in this volume demonstrate, in order to find, appraise and develop the mostly smaller near-field opportunities as well as making sure to grasp the opportunities of the near-future energy transition, a regional understanding of the North Sea is still critical. Even more so, a cross-border approach is essential because 1) some of the plays currently being targeted have a clear cross-border element, 2) it allows the comparison of stratigraphic names throughout the entire basin and 3) it enables explorers to learn lessons from one part of the rift to be applied somewhere else.This volume offers an up-to-date, ‘geology-without-borders’ view of the stratigraphy, sedimentology, tectonics and oil-and-gas exploration trends of the entire North Sea basin. The challenges associated with data continuity and nomenclature differences across median lines are discussed and mitigated. Examples of under-exploited cross-border plays and discoveries are discussed.

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On the effects of inter-farm interactions at the offshore wind farm Alpha Ventus

10.5194/wes-2021-50 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Vasilis Pettas ◽

Matthias Kretschmer ◽

Andrew Clifton ◽

Po Wen Cheng

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Turbulence Intensity ◽

Wind Farm ◽

Wind Farms ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Offshore Wind ◽

Wind Speeds ◽

The North ◽

The North Sea ◽

Layer Flow

Abstract. The energy transition means that more and more wind farms are being built in favorable offshore sites like the North Sea. The wind farms affect each other as they interact with the boundary layer flow. This phenomenon is a topic of current research by the industry and academia as it can have significant technical and financial impacts. In this study we use data from the Alpha Ventus wind farm site to investigate the effects of inter-farm interactions. Alpha Ventus is the first offshore German wind farm located at the North Sea with a fully equipped measurement platform FINO1 in the near vicinity. We look at the effects on the wind conditions measured at FINO1 before and after the beginning of operation of the neighboring farms. We show how measured quantities like turbulence intensity, wind speed distributions, and wind shear are evolving from the period where the park was operating alone in the area to the period where farms were built and operate in close proximity (1.4–15 km). Moreover, we show how the wind turbine performance is affected using data from a turbine that is in the vicinity of the mast. The results show the wake effects in the directions influenced by the wind farms according to their distance with increased turbulence intensity, reduced wind speeds, and increased structural loading.

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Turning the tide: the transformation of the North Sea

The APPEA Journal ◽

10.1071/aj19115 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 60 (2) ◽

pp. 427

Author(s):

Adrian Del Maestro ◽

Craig Stevens

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Value Chain ◽

Private Equity ◽

Business Models ◽

Price Volatility ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Oil Field ◽

Low Carbon ◽

The North ◽

The North Sea

As part of the Sea Change campaign, we looked at the evolution of the UK North Sea, interviewing over 20 senior stakeholders across the value chain ranging from operators, oil services and regulators, to academia, private equity and banks. We collected their views across three themes: (1) Competitiveness of the basin – Recognition that the supply chain in the basin has been exposed to enough pressure and was not sustainable going forward. New business models were required to incentivise collaboration between operators and oil services. (2) Investment in the basin – Respondents confirmed that private equity and smaller operators would continue to play a major role. However, in a post private equity world, the emergence of private capital from developing countries might proliferate in the North Sea. (3) Energy transition and impact on the basin – For investors it was increasingly challenging to justify investments in oil and gas due to commodity price volatility and growing concerns around environmental, social and governance themes. Nevertheless, the sector had a need to articulate the value it brought and the importance of hydrocarbons in facilitating the energy transition. The basin has the potential to become a ‘test laboratory’ for the energy transition – from low carbon solutions to decommissioning. All these themes are extremely relevant to the Australian upstream sector. We explore the emergence of new partnership models between operators and oil field services and how a mature basin continues to attract investment and adapt to a lower carbon world.

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