By Andy Martin, Chief Commercial Officer, Verlume

Recently described by the International Energy Agency as a technology that is ‘a linchpin in delivering clean energy transitions and protecting energy security’¹, batteries will be a crucial enabling technology as part of the worldwide push to net zero.

Specialising in intelligent energy management and subsea power solutions, Aberdeen-based Verlume has a successful track record in delivering underwater, seabed-based battery technology in use cases across the environment.

One of these such technologies is a rechargeable battery known as ‘Charge’. Charge is a battery unit which offers high density energy storage for maximum bottom time deployment and application flexibility in underwater applications. The product is scalable by stacking the 35/55 kWh base units. The units can be configured as standalone or integrated within existing infrastructure such as environmental monitoring units.

The development of Charge began after Verlume identified numerous power delivery challenges present across the underwater market, where operators and other users of the offshore environment were subject to high costs for reliable power delivery, experiencing problems with resident autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) charging capability, as well as being under increasing scrutiny of carbon emissions.

Use Cases Across Offshore Environment

The rechargeable, battery solution is commercially available to solve these industry problems. An example of a recent deployment of a Charge system was for an offshore oil and gas operator client in offshore North America, in collaboration with J+S Subsea and Viper Innovations.

Here, Charge was supplied as a power delivery solution following severe insulation resistance (IR) problems in the umbilical cable which were posing a high risk for the client, potentially contributing to decreased operability of the field and multi-billion-dollar costs.

As part of a wider umbilical protection system, Charge was utilised to provide the underwater battery power for the solution. The Charge systems were 55kWh each, to provide circa 90 days of operation. In total, three Charge systems were provided as part of this project with two systems simultaneously deployed and the third as a duty rotation device.

In addition to this use case, Charge can also enable long-duration seabed monitoring for stationary systems for extensive surveys without the need for a vessel. There are also key use cases for Charge within offshore wind, where the technology can be used in underwater environmental monitoring/data acquisition applications either before the construction of a wind farm for site surveys or as part of an operational wind farm. Furthermore, there are applications around AUV residency within offshore wind for inspection, repair and maintenance routines.

 

References

  1. International Energy Agency (2024), Batteries and Secure Energy Transitions: World Energy Outlook Special Report – https://www.iea.org/reports/batteries-and-secure-energy-transitions

This article was originally published in the June issue of Ocean News and Technology magazine, available here: https://digital.oceannews.com/june-2024/page-1?m=9767&i=823857&p=26&ver=html5