Green infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds has appointed US company National Oilwell Varco (NOV) as the first of its delivery partners for the fabrication of its proposed integrated 200-turbine floating wind and hydrogen development off the coast of Scotland.
Under the agreement, NOV will be the exclusive provider of floating and mooring systems in support of the venture.
Cerulean says the project would have the capacity to accelerate the decarbonisation of oil and gas assets in the UKCS by more than halving the 18 million tonnes of CO2 they currently produce by 2025.
NOV, one of the largest providers of marine equipment and wind vessel designs in the world, has more than 20 years of experience in the offshore wind sector, with expertise in the installation and maintenance of floating structures in the energy space.
Cerulean Winds is led by Dan Jackson and Mark Dixon, who have more than 25 years’ experience working together on large-scale offshore infrastructure developments in the oil and gas industry.
Dixon said: “We are very pleased to announce NOV’s involvement with the project.
“As the largest and most qualified provider of marine equipment and wind vessel designs working in this space, the experience and knowledge they will bring to a project of this magnitude is second to none.
“Having them on board brings the scheme a step closer to reality.
NOV Rig Technologies president Joe Rovig added: “We are very excited to partner with Cerulean on this groundbreaking proposal, which will leverage NOV’s core competencies as well as our UK and European infrastructure and personnel in a key energy transition project, which will drive major progress in the goal of decarbonising the Offshore UK sector.
“NOV is eager to demonstrate our abilities as one of the key partners and household names in the global energy transition, just as it has been for decades in the traditional oil and gas industry.”
If it gets the go-ahead, the £10bn Cerulean Winds project claims to have the capacity to generate enough power to electrify the majority of assets in the UKCS to meet and exceed those targets within the timescale.
Cerulean Winds has submitted a formal request to Marine Scotland for seabed leases.
These would need to be granted by Q3 in 2021 to target financial close in Q1 2022 and to begin construction soon after so that the infrastructure is in place by 2024-2026, Cerulean said.