Cerulean Winds and Ping Petroleum Pioneer Historic Offshore Wind Turbine Project

Renewables developer Cerulean Winds and Ping Petroleum have signed an agreement to build one of the UK’s first oil and gas facilities powered by offshore wind. Ping’s Avalon site located in the Central North Sea is expected to become a floating production storage and offload facility, all powered by a Cerulean wind turbine.

“Today’s announcement gives us a perfect picture of the energy transition in action: offshore wind power located on floating platforms being used to provide a low-carbon alternative to power offshore oil and gas operations. It illustrates the importance of balancing energy security and energy transition: we cannot have one without the other if we are to achieve net zero," Pillsbury Energy partner Gavin Watson told IJ Global. “But this is also about old energy enabling our low-carbon future—without decades of expertise developing offshore structures to support oil and gas exploration and production, floating offshore wind would not be possible.”

Energy Voice reported that the North Sea Transition Authority (NTSA) has approved the proposed project concept. Once operational, the use of a turbine to power Avalon would prevent the equivalent of up to 20,000 tons of CO2 emissions every year from the facility.

Additionally, Cerulean has agreed to fully manufacture and assemble the offshore wind turbine in the UK, a move that will bring an investment of £80-100million in local supply chains. The anticipated project start date is sometime in 2025.

Gavin Watson led the advisement of Cerulean Winds.

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