(Closed) (SuRe3-OW-GH2) Repair, Remanufacturing and Sustainable Reuse of Oil and Gas Platforms as Offshore Wind Green Hydrogen Hubs

At a glance

Title Repair, Remanufacturing and Sustainable Reuse of Oil and Gas Platforms as Offshore Wind Green Hydrogen Hubs
Reference 2022.15681.UTA
Scientific Area Space-Earth Interactions
Funding (US) 100 000 USD
Leading Institutions Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, PT Cockrell School of Engineering, UT Austin, USA
Participating Institutions INEGI – Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial
Duration 12 months
Start date September 15, 2024
End date December 31, 2025
Keywords Oceanic Systems; Metocean Climate; Green & Blue Energy; Repair-Remanufacturing-Reuse

What is SuRe3-OW-GH2 about?

SuRe3-OW-GH2 aims to explore eco-sustainable energy transition strategies that would go from decommissioned Oil and Gas Offshore platforms through Wind Energy to Green Hydrogen, while also considering recycled materials reuse and remanufacturing. To achieve safety and reliability, multi-physics and multi-scale methodologies will be used to assess structural capacity, that will build from meteorological and oceanographic (metocean) climate modelling, consider the use of recyclable materials for topological corrections, employ stochastic processes and metamodeling, and ultimately assess extreme and fatigue loads.

The benefits of refurbishing decommissioned offshore platforms into green energy generation stations are:

a) savings of millions of euros (or dollars) in decommissioning costs;

b) reduction of waste;

c) sustainable reuse of decommissioned offshore platforms;

d) the provision of revenue and jobs to support the economy;

e) availability of clean, renewable energy that can contribute to meeting various targets and helping the world towards a carbon-neutral future;

f) reduced harm to the marine environment.

What critical challenges is SuRe3-OW-GH2 addressing?

SuRe3-OW-GH2 aims at providing solutions to the world’s desire for sustainable and resilient energy sources. The project supports the vision of a transition from carbonized energy sources to carbon-free ones, while leveraging the immense potential in our oceans. In order to implement these ideas, structural integrity studies are important and will seek to assess the feasibility of using existing O&G jacket structures for their new functions. The requisites for retrofitting and the effects on fatigue performance will be assessed. The multidisciplinary project team combines expertise in fatigue modelling and structural integrity assessment at FEUP with expertise in modeling the ocean environment and offshore structures at UT Austin.

How will SuRe3-OW-GH2 explore eco-sustainable energy transition?

The project team intends to study eco-sustainable energy transition strategies from decommissioned oil and gas offshore platforms through wind energy to green hydrogen, where the multiphysics methodologies to evaluate the structural capacity and fatigue performance based on metocean climate modelling for the chosen offshore sites, as well as the extreme environmental conditions and recycle materials reuse and remanufacturing, will be investigated. For that, recycled and recyclable materials, green manufacturing processes, and reinforcement solutions will be explored. Additionally, multiscale retrofitting strategies and solutions will be studied.

How is OM-TTR expected to impact energy research and environment?

The proposed work will contribute toward the development of eco-sustainable energy transition strategies that seek pathways to go from decommissioned Oil and Gas Offshore platforms through Wind Energy to Green Hydrogen. Benefits to the environment are obvious since this project will make it possible to repair, remanufacture, and reuse decommissioned oil and gas offshore platforms to serve as support structures for green energy production systems (wind energy to green hydrogen) and ultimately lead to cleaner and environmentally sustainable energy generation.

Research Exchanges

2024 – Bruno Alexandre Silva Pedrosa

Postdoctoral Researcher at FEUP and Visiting Researcher at UT – Download the visit report here

Project Team

José Correia

Assistant Professor with Habilitation at Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto

Lance Manuel

Full Professor at Cockrell School of Engineering, UT Austin

Other team members in Portugal: Rita Dantas (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto), Bruno Pedrosa (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto);