Memorandum submitted by ABB
1. About ABB
1.1 ABB is a leader in power and automation
technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve
performance while lowering environmental impacts. ABB in the UK
operates from more than 20 locations nationally and employs around
2,300 people. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100
countries and employs about 120,000 people.
1.2 Technology plays a key role for ABB
with our nine research centres, 6,000 scientists and 70 university
collaborations across the world, of which several are in the UK.
ABB is a one of the largest providers of transmission grid plant
and equipment to connect Round 2 and proposed Round 3 offshore
wind farms to the UK and European Grid systems.
2. Executive Summary
2.1 Developing and innovating in offshore
automation and electrification technology is the key to extending
the life of the UK Continental Shelf and the North Sea oil field.
Such innovation can improve the exploitation of the UK's remaining
offshore oil and gas reserves while at the same time reducing
the harmful impact on the environment.
2.2 In order to encourage investment in
technology development and innovation, the UK Government needs
to foster a long-term co-ordinated offshore strategy that will
give clarity to the industry and supply chain. The strategy should
be both UK-wide and connected to existing strategies in Europe.
2.3 Offshore oil and gas platforms should
where appropriate and where environmental and financial benefit
can be realised, be connected to a North Sea Electricity Transmission
system.
2.4 The UK Government should work with industry
and universities to address the skills issues in advanced engineering
and to take full advantage of the opportunities that the UK Continental
Shelf and the North Sea oil field present.
3. How can the UK's remaining offshore oil
and gas reserves be exploited most effectively? What barriers
are there to exploiting such reserves?
Offshore electrification
3.1 Offshore electrification can become
instrumental in providing solutions for projects with space constraints
and low weight budgets but where improved system performance is
essential. ABB has been at the forefront of the industry's drive
to develop electro-technical solutions compliant with existing
requirements for energy efficiency, control and safety enabling
remote and unmanned operations. Current ABB solutions in operation
around the world include HVDC Light and subsea power transmission.
These can be applied successfully to some of the challenges presented
by the location and depth of some of the UK's remaining oil and
gas reserves.
Offshore automation
3.2 Increasingly innovative solutions in
offshore automation can also help meet these challenges. ABB has
developed a number of internationally used solutions, including
enhanced control over flow, level, temperature and pressure measurement.
Where fully implementedfor example Ormen Lange on the Norwegian
Continental Shelf and De Ruyter on the Dutch Continental Shelfgreater
control over offshore automation has increased production and
extended the lifetime of assets.
The need for a co-ordinated approach
3.3 The issue for the UK is whether the
fiscal and regulatory framework can provide the long-term vision
to empower the supply chain to confidently innovate in offshore
electrification and automation in the same way as being proposed
elsewhere in the world.
4. What can be done to minimise the environmental
impact of exploiting the reserves? How should this be encouraged
and/or financed?
Practical solutions: a case study
4.1 ABB's HVDC Light has been successfully
applied on the Troll A platform in a Norwegian Gas Field in the
North Sea, 70 kilometres off the coast of Norway. Troll A is the
tallest construction that has ever been moved to another position,
relative to the surface of the Earth, and is among the largest
and most complex engineering projects in history. It can produce
up to 100 million cubic metres of gas per day. The gas is driven
to a processing plant by compressors, before being transported
through pipelines to the European continent. HVDC Light is one
of the ABB solutions being used to deliver electrical power to
the offshore installations, 2 x 40 MW compressor units. As well
as doing that effectively it has both lowered operating costs
and reduced environmental impact by using renewable electricity
from Norwegian hydro stations rather than fossil fuels to operate
gas compressors.
5. How effective is the current fiscal and
regulatory regime in which the industry operates?
The importance of a co-ordinated approach
5.1 ABB is observing a growing demand for
subsea electricity transmission systems to connect very large
quantities of offshore wind. This will result in the creation
of HVDC links far out into the North Sea. Currently no UK plan
exists to co-ordinate the construction of this electricity transmission
system with interconnectors and electrification of oil and gas
platforms. The current Regulatory regime for offshore transmission
does not consider the wider system requirements for a North Sea
transmission system and as such is likely to result in sub-optimal
transmission solutions for any future integrated North Sea Grid.
Observations from across Europe
5.2 ABB has observed that other European
countries particularly Scandinavia endeavour to define longer
term intergrated plans that consider oil and gas, renewables and
electricity interconnectors to other European countries, to best
serve their energy requirements and efficiently provide power
to offshore oil and gas installations. No such co-ordinated long
term strategic view for an offshore electricity subsea grid system
appears to exist in the UK.
6. How are the skills needs of the sector
being met? How transferable are those skills?
ABB's involvement in developing skills
6.1 ABB is delighted to be involved with
several UK universities, the Power Academy and the Power Sector
Skills Steering Group on skills development and has recently reinvigorated
its apprenticeship programme.
Meeting the UK engineering skills challenge
6.2 The UK is not alone in having a shortage
of skilled engineers; it is a problem that exists across the world.
ABB believes that the UK can gain competitive advantage in the
new green economy if it invests in science and engineering. ABB
believes that in order to deliver the innovative changes necessary
for securing our energy future, a new breed of engineers is needed
who are multi-skilled in a variety of disciplines. There is already
an identified shortage of skilled engineers. It is important that
government works with industry to provide the leadership and direction
for improving the training and certification of our future workforce.
ABB believes that industry and government need to work together
to develop a fit for purpose skills and training strategy. This
requires that industry and university establishments are much
more closely aligned so that academic and theoretical learning
is tuned to the needs of industry. It may also require that greater
financial supportboth public and privateis provided
to engineering undergraduates and post-graduates.
March 2009
|