TotalEnergies Joins Wave Powered Subsea Project

TotalEnergies has joined the Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) collaborative project which is currently powering subsea equipment off the east coast of Orkney, Scotland, with wave power from Mocean Energy and intelligent subsea energy storage from Verlume.  

The £2million demonstrator initiative has connected the Blue X wave energy converter – built by Edinburgh company Mocean Energy – with a Halo underwater battery storage system developed by Aberdeen intelligent energy management specialists Verlume.

The fully operational project, which is in situ off the coast of Orkney, aims to show how green technologies can be combined to provide reliable low carbon power and communications to subsea equipment, offering a cost-effective alternative to umbilical cables, which are carbon intensive with long lead times to procure and install.

TotalEnergies, supported by their Ocean Energy R&D team based out of Pau, France, will now join project leads Mocean Energy and Verlume, alongside industry players Baker Hughes, Serica Energy, Harbour Energy, Transmark Subsea, PTTEP and the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC).

Joining RSP offers TotalEnergies access to all data and results from the extended test program, taking place at a site five kilometers east of the Orkney Mainland. TotalEnergies will also be able to offer input to test plans and will be provided with a feasibility assessment of the use of RSP technology at a location of their choice.

It is anticipated that participation will support TotalEnergies’ activities both in the UK and overseas addressing the wider energy transition across their production and energy products, as it aims to become carbon net zero, together with society, by 2050.

Dave MacKinnon, TotalEnergies Technology, Data & Innovation Manager, says: “Our participation in RSP demonstrates how important it is to us to pursue new ideas and technology that will support the decarbonization of our oil and gas production business, both here in the UK and across the world. We’re pleased to be participating and look forward to seeing the results of this collaboration.”

Andy Martin, Chief Commercial Officer at Verlume, added: “Renewables for Subsea Power is capturing industry-leading project data as we demonstrate how Verlume’s Halo subsea battery storage can reliably power subsea equipment through being recharged by a wave energy device.
“It is fantastic that TotalEnergies recognises the value of this data and has come on board within RSP to share insights such as further use cases for this technology system.”

The Orkney deployment is the third phase of the Renewables for Subsea Power project. In 2021, the consortium invested £1.6million into phase two of the program – which saw the successful integration of the core technologies in an onshore test environment at Verlume’s operations facility in Aberdeen.

In 2021, Mocean Energy’s Blue X prototype underwent a program of rigorous at-sea testing at the European Marine Energy Centre’s Scapa Flow test site in Orkney where they generated first power and gathered significant data on machine performance and operation.

Verlume’s seabed battery energy storage system, Halo, has been specifically designed for the harsh underwater environment, reducing operational emissions and facilitating the use of renewable energy by providing a reliable, uninterrupted power supply. Halo’s fundamental basis is its intelligent energy management system, Axonn, a fully integrated system which autonomously maximizes available battery capacity in real time.