Making green energy even greener:
Cutting CO2 emissions, chemical discharges and energy consumption
Save 6 million kWh and cut CO2 emissions by 1,400 tonnes per year on an HVDC platform whilst eliminating chemicals discharges to sea.
Offshore wind is a crucial part of the future renewable energy solution. By 2050, European offshore wind could deliver over 400 GW – nearly 30% of the continent’s energy demand.
Should be greener
To transfer green electricity produced by offshore wind farms to consumers onshore, a conversion from AC to DC current is required. The AC to DC converter systems are installed on dedicated HVDC platforms.
Converting AC to DC creates significant amounts of heat, necessitating the installation of high power cooling systems on the HVDC platforms.
Conventional systems using large lift pumps to supply seawater for cooling have several challenges in the form of high energy consumption, the use of chemicals to control marine growth and high operating costs.
FSCC solves the challenges
These challenges must be solved for offshore wind to be truly environmentally and economically sound, and that is why we developed the Future Subsea Controllable Cooler – FSCC.
The FSCC reduces both CO2 emissions and operating costs considerably. The robust, closed system design eliminates the need for energy-hungry seawater lift pumps, chemicals to control marine growth and frequent, costly maintenance.
3 environmental advantages
1. Annual savings of 1,400 tonnes CO2
2. Eliminating the use of chemicals
3. Smaller footprint, smaller impact
Saving 1,400 tonnes of CO2
The FSCC is a passive system with no moving parts except from a topside cooling medium circulation pump. This means it consumes very little energy, and it all translates to a cut of 1,400 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
That is the equivalent to the annual emission from more than 300 cars, or a Boing 737 passenger jet flying non-stop for more than 15 hours.
Saving 6 million kWh
On a typical offshore HVDC platform, FSCC could reduce the energy consumption for cooling by some 6 million kWh per year compared to a seawater lift pump system – energy that could be sold at a profit for the operator.
3 energy savings
1. Annual savings of 6 million kWh
2. Energy for platform construction
3. Energy for platform installation
Eliminating chemicals discharges to sea
Chemicals are used in seawater systems to control marine growth which could cause reduced or loss of cooling capacity.
Once used, the chemicals are discharged to the sea together with the cooling seawater.
FSCC circulates a cooling medium in a closed loop system. This eliminates the need to use and discharge potentially harmful chemicals to sea.
Reducing production and installation impact
The topside equipment footprint requirements for an FSCC cooling solution are considerably lower than for a seawater lift pump system.
Hence, an HVDC platform with FSCC cooling could be downsized, which would also reduce the environmental impact from production and installation.
