Transocean has deployed its first hybrid energy storage system aboard the company’s Transocean Spitsbergen floating drilling rig, currently located at the Equinor-operated Snorre field offshore Norway.
The hybrid power technology reduces fuel consumption and increases the dynamically positioned rig’s station-keeping reliability by capturing energy generated during normal rig operations—which would otherwise be wasted—and storing it in batteries. The energy is then used to power the rig’s thrusters.
Developed by Transocean in partnership with systems integrator and engineering company Aspin Kemp and Associates, the technology targets a 14% reduction in fuel use during normal operations, leading to a marked decrease in NOx and CO2 emissions, the drilling contractor said.
Transocean’s investment is funded in part through fuel-saving incentives in its contract with Equinor and by the Norwegian NOx Fund.