Siemens will supply a lithium-ion battery solution for offshore drilling rig. With this, West Mira will become the world’s first drilling rig to operate using a hybrid battery power solution. The battery aspires to reduce fuel consumption by 12% and CO2 emissions by 15%.
Reducing costs and minimising projects’ environmental impacts will signify the long-term sustainability of the offshore oil and gas sector and the German company, through its experience in the electrification of marine assets, developed ‘BlueVault’, a lithium-ion battery-based solution, which will be installed on West Mira, an offshore drilling rig that will operate in the North Sea’s Nova Field, approximately 120 km northwest of Bergen.
West Mira is a sixth-generation, ultra-deepwater semi-submersible designed by Moss Maritime and will be the world’s first modern drilling rig to operate a low-emission hybrid (diesel-electric) power plant using lithium-ion energy storage. The solution consists of four converter-battery systems for a total maximum power of six megawatts.
The installation of the new battery-based solution on West Mira is expected to result in an estimated 42% reduction in the runtime of on-platform diesel engines, reducing CO2 emissions by 15% and NOx emissions by 12%, which is equivalent to annual emissions from approximately 10,000 automobiles.
The batteries will be charged from the rig’s diesel-electric generators and used for supplying power during peak load times. Furthermore, they will serve as backup to prevent blackout situations and provide power to the thrusters in the unlikely event of loss of all running machinery.
The energy storage solution is based on field-proven technology, which has been installed in more than 60 marine vessels worldwide, including the world’s first electric car ferry, MF Ampere, in Norway.
Moreover, Siemens opened a fully robotised and digitalised plant in Norway that will develop and manufacture energy storage technologies for both marine and offshore oil and gas applications.
