NORWAY – The Norwegian oil and gas exploration and production company Aker BP has selected Hitachi Energy as a technology partner for the NOAKA power-from-shore project.
The NOAKA area is located between Oseberg and Alvheim in the North Sea and holds a number of oil and gas discoveries. The partners Aker BP, Equinor, Lotos Exploration and Production Norge plan to drill approximately 45 wells in order to reach the maximum potential of the resources in the area.
The project will be powered by up to 150 MW of power from the mainland grid, making it the world’s longest power-from-shore AC connection at around 250 km (155 miles), Hitachi Energy said in a press release.
Hitachi Energy will perform front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for a power quality solution that should enable the Aker BP-operated NOA Fulla field and the Equinor-operated Krafla field in the North Sea to be powered from the mainland.
Hitachi Energy’s solution combines a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and thyristor-controlled series capacitors (TCSCs), while a control and protection system should enable the two technologies to work in harmony as a single synchronized solution, the manufacturer said in a press release.
The solution includes a new grid connection to house the STATCOM, TCSCs, shunt reactors and gas-insulated switchgear and should increase the transmission capacity of an existing 420 kV mainland grid connection with new gas-insulated switchgear and a power transformer, all manufactured by Hitachi Energy.
“Our ambition is to develop the NOAKA area with a minimum carbon footprint and a prerequisite for this is that the fields are supplied with power-from-shore,” said Lars Høier, Senior Vice President and Asset Manager for NOAKA at Aker BP.
Source: Hitachi Energy; Aker BP