OFFSHORE WIND-POWERED OIL AND GAS FIELDS: A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF THE TECHNO-ECONOMIC VIABILITY FOR THE OFFSHORE RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

摘要

The electricity demand of offshore oil and gas platforms are traditionally supplied by gas turbines operating with natural gas extracted from the field or fossil fuels emitting CO2 and NOx. Offshore wind power is an interesting alternative to supply such a demand as it can be produced close to the oil and gas field and providing clean and renewable electricity. The objective of this research is to investigate, as a preliminary approach, the techno-economic viability of supplying electricity demand of an oil and gas field by a floating offshore wind farm. An oil and gas field locates in the southeast of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a distance of about 130 km from the shoreline, is selected as a case study. The wind resource at the local is obtained using in-situ measured data. Four wind turbines are studied and compared through their capacity factor and energy production. Afterward, four wind farms composing of the selected turbines are proposed based on the available wind energy and the field demand. The cost of energy produced by the wind farm is calculated, and the results are compared to the conventional method of the electricity supply.