The decommissioning process comprises a total of seven stages, with preparation being the third stage.
This stage involves well P&A, cleaning, purging and isolation, and a preliminary categorisation of material streams. Using renewable energy sources like wind, solar or wave power to perform offshore decommissioning activities offers a plethora of environmental and cost-saving benefits.
Some notable applications include:
- Solar-powered well P&A equipment: Solar solutions are generally considered to be cost-effective and important for unmanned wellhead platforms. In these cases, reliability is critical due to significant challenges involved in reaching remote locations for maintenance.
- Wind-powered offshore structure removal tools: Wind energy is utilised to support a number of decommissioning processes such as topside preparation and heavy lift operations. Utilising this resource is an emerging trend that has several applications, most notable being the removal and shipment of anchors and mooring systems in floating offshore wind farms.
- Solar-powered monitoring systems: These sustainable systems are deployed to assess environmental conditions during the transportation of materials to port and also reduce the carbon footprint associated with conventional power sources.
- Renewable-powered support vessels: Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are incorporated into support vessels in order to reduce the emissions during offshore decommissioning activities.
- Solar-powered sorting and handling equipment: Solar-powered machinery utilised at ports for sorting, handling and preparation of materials contributes to the use of clean energy in the handling and dismantling stages.
