ABB has won an order worth $155 million from Norway’s Statoil to supply systems and equipment to two HVDC converter stations linking the recently discovered Johan Sverdrup offshore field with the onshore grid. The contract has been booked in the first quarter of 2015.
Oil production at Johan Sverdrup, located west of Stavanger on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS), is expected to start in late 2019. Full production is estimated at 550,000-650,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, 40% of total oil production on the NCS. The four platforms in the first phase of the development will be entirely powered from shore by the HVDC link supplied by ABB. The first phase of power-from-shore investments will prepare for the future development of the Johan Sverdrup field, as well as other fields located at Utsira High until 2022.
ABB will design, engineer, supply and commission the equipment for two ±80-kilovolt, 100-MW, high-voltage converter stations. One will be located onshore at Haugsneset, where it will turn alternating current (AC) from the grid into high-voltage direct current (DC), which can be transmitted efficiently over 200 km to the second station on one of the oil platforms. There, the DC current will be converted back into AC and distributed to the rest of the field.
ABB’s solution will use voltage-sourced converter (VSC) technology, called “HVDC Light,” to provide flexible, long-distance transmission of electricity. This technology has enabled ABB to win all four HVDC power-from-shore systems that have so far been ordered in the North Sea: Statoil’s Troll A, compressor 1 and 2, delivered in 2005; BP’s Valhall field, delivered in 2011; Troll A 3 and 4, currently under delivery; and now Johan Sverdrup.
VSC-HVDC links are increasingly being deployed to connect remote renewables to consumption centersClick here for more information on this project: http://bit.ly/1NZA6Wa