The world’s largest and most advanced power cable-laying vessel has begun operations on the $3.8-billion strategic project by Emirati energy majors - Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) - to power and significantly decarbonise Adnoc’s offshore production operations.

 

The innovative project will see the development and operation of a first-of-its-kind high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) subsea transmission system in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. 

 

It will power Adnoc’s offshore production operations with cleaner and more efficient energy, delivered through the Abu Dhabi onshore power grid, operated by Taqa’s wholly owned subsidiary, Abu Dhabi Transmission and Despatch Company (Transco).

 

The project will require some 1,000 km of HVDC cables bundled with fibre optics, and the transmission system will have a total installed capacity of 3.2 Gigawatts (GW), with two independent sub-sea HVDC links and converter stations.

 

According to Adnoc, the cable-laying vessel, the Leonardo da Vinci, owned by the Prysmian Group, has arrived in the UAE from Europe and will be here for an initial four-month period. 

 

Operating between Mirfa on the western Abu Dhabi coastline and the offshore Zakum cluster, a distance equivalent to that between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the Leonardo da Vinci will lay bundled cabling along the first 134km route, before returning later to lay cables along a second 141km route, it stated.

 

Commercial operations of the offshore electrification project are set to commence in 2025. The project is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of Adnoc’s offshore operations by up to 50%, replacing existing offshore gas turbine generators with more sustainable power sources available on the Abu Dhabi onshore power network.

 

Adnoc pointed out that more than 50% of the value of this project will flow back into the UAE’s economy under its In-Country Value (ICV) programme.

 

The project was initially announced in December 2021. It is funded through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) - a dedicated company jointly owned by Adnoc and Taqa (30% stake each), and a consortium comprising Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power Company and French utility major EDF, it stated. 

 

Led by Kepco, the consortium holds a combined 40% stake in the project on a build, own, operate and transfer basis.-TradeArabia News Service