Offshore Infrastructure, Floating Solar and Clean Energy Contracting

Our industry is seeking the cutting-edge for non-fossil-fuel or “clean” energy potential, and some of the most compelling ideas start with structures that are already sitting off many of our shores.

These projects involve the repurposing of offshore oil and gas platforms, as an option, for clean energy uses. The Gulf of Mexico, for example, has 1,500 such platforms.

This was the focus of a research report that was published by the Repurposing Offshore Infrastructure for Clean Energy (ROICE) program that’s led by the University of Houston Energy research program. This report, for which I was a co-author, provided guidance on regulatory considerations for repurposing offshore oil and gas infrastructure for clean energy use.

There are significant challenges in pursuing these projects in the Gulf of Mexico in particular, but there also are significant opportunities for reducing the cost of new offshore clean energy plans through repurposing, as well as through innovations from the UK, like “floating solar.”

Floating solar refers to any solar array that can float on top of a body of water. Also known as floating photovoltaic or floatovoltaics, these floating panels are typically found in lakes or basins, where the waters are generally calmer than the open ocean.

There’s been an increasing interest in the technology in recent years, such as the Healdsburg Floating Solar Project, the largest floating solar in the U.S., located in Healdsburg, California. But the most trailblazing work with the emerging pursuit of floating solar has been accomplished in countries such as the UK.

The UK firm RWE commissioned its first floating solar project in 2022. Located on a lake near the Amer power plant in Geertruidenberg, a city in the southern Netherlands, this project consists of approximately 13,400 solar panels. The project increased the total capacity of Solar Park Maer from 0.5 to 6.1-megawatt peak, enough to supply 1,500 Dutch households on average.

When it comes to taking floating solar and other offshore energy solutions from overseas and implementing them within domestic waters off the coast of Texas, there are significant hurdles. For instance, there has been resistance to adding floating solar panels between wind turbines for maximum energy generation, largely from fisheries groups that use that space.

There is potential, however, in repurposing the legacy oil and gas infrastructures in the Gulf. This process could fall along similar lines that are outlined in the project implementation framework that is being developed by the ROICE program, which covers projects like offshore-wind-energy generation, offshore-wind-powered hydrogen generation and/or storage and carbon dioxide sequestration facilities.

Floating solar applications can help us further reduce emissions from oil and gas operations off the Texas coast. With this technology, we could eliminate the need for diesel engines on the newer platforms by installing solar panels on the older platforms.

Furthermore, we could even bring the energy collected by the solar-paneled, older platforms back to shore.

Shifting from oil and gas operations to clean energy repurposing projects requires many considerations, including financial, operational and regulatory requirements. More specifically, there are difficulties in getting the floating-solar generated power back to land.

This is because when you’re using these decommissioned oil and gas platforms, the existing pipelines have also been decommissioned. The pipelines may have been flushed with saline or just abandoned, and you may have to install the energy cables within the pipelines for added protection.

Then there are marine resources to consider. Like the concern from fisheries, there has been resistance to similar offshore projects in the past from organizations that safeguard significant marine mineral resource areas.

Despite the challenges, I am confident that implementing floating solar projects holds promise for stakeholders and power customers by repurposing existing offshore infrastructure in U.S. waters.

As I look toward the future of clean energy in the U.S., I’m encouraged by the potential for rethinking current infrastructure investments and broadening what we consider to be possible. It’s becoming a clearer and more viable solution that we can see right off our shores.