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Power for North Sea platform is a shore thing

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Statoil’s Gjøa platform has become the first floating platform in the North Sea to be supplied with power from shore rather than use power generated by gas turbines.

When electrical power was connected on 11 July 2010, the platform started to use what is claimed to be the world’s longest alternating current (AC) cable from land to a floating installation.

The nearly 100km-long cable will provide Gjøa with power from shore, allowing the platform to cut its carbon-dioxide emissions by 210,000 metric tons per year at full production.

The transmission link includes a static AC cable that delivers 40MW of power at 90kV from the Norwegian shore, at a depth of 380m over a distance of 98.5km. Then, a 1.5km dynamic cable connects the static cable on the seabed to the platform.

The dynamic cable weighs about 85kg per metre and has a total weight of around 130 tons. Suspended in the water between the platform and the seabed, it is subject to substantial mechanical stress and fatigue from the sea, wind and waves, which can move the platform as much as 75m in any direction.

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