Study Finds Floating Wind Turbines Potentially Decarbonize Oil Exploration
Petrobras is testing unprecedented offshore wind technology , in partnership with the USP Polytechnic School and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) . Still in the testing phase at the UFRJ laboratory, it is a small-scale floating wind system, consisting of a wind turbine supported by a four-column semi-submersible structure. The technology represents an important step in the search for technological efficiency combined with environmental benefits, as well as a lower production cost for pre-salt platforms.
inside the technology
Floating wind turbines are a new technology worldwide, but they are already a reality in some European countries and in Japan. The tests carried out in Brazil are expanding the capacity of these technologies, since they have some limitations: “All of them are still limited. today at small distances from the coast, for example, and mainly at low depths, up to 300 meters”, says Alexandre Simos, professor of the Department of Naval and Ocean Engineering at the Polytechnic School of USP.
According to the professor, the technology has been taken to deep waters in Brazil, such as the Santos and Campos basins. “We are talking about 2,000 meters of depth in order to use wind energy, this clean energy to feed, for example, subsea systems that are used in the production of oil and gas or the production platforms that operate in our oil fields.”
Benefits
One of the goals and possibilities that these turbines have is to decarbonize oil exploration itself, by replacing gas turbines with wind turbines. “The large marine turbines that are already on the market today have up to 15 megawatts of power. To give you an idea, these large oil platforms that we see today in the pre-salt layer, for example, have an installed power plant that generates almost 100 megawatts of power, so it is a large amount of electricity that is demanded by the plant itself. production plant. Nowadays, this energy is generated exclusively with gas turbines, and we also have, as a consequence, emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly CO2 emissions”, says Simos.
research and investment
USP’s Escola Politécnica has been studying floating technology for almost ten years and, at the present time, the partnership with Petrobras has opened more doors for the success of projects in this area. “It is the industry that has demands for technology, demands for innovation, and we in engineering expect these demands to collaborate in solving these problems and to generate innovation. This mechanism is essential to boost innovation in the country”, argues Simos.
In addition, the partnership guarantees the necessary financial support for the studies to advance. “It is important for us to mention that these cutting-edge researches that we do cost a lot of money. (…) It is not cheap and it would be difficult for us to finance activities of this level with public research resources.” As part of this support is the funding of researchers: “Even more important than that is the funding of our own researchers. With this project alone, Petrobras generated scholarships for more than 40 scholarship holders at all levels, from students in undergraduate courses here at the Polytechnic to postdoctoral researchers. The return that we have, from the point of view of training highly qualified human resources, trained to work with wind energy in the future, whether at sea or on land”, concludes the professor.