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Monotowers
For decades the North Sea has been a fertile source of oil and gas. But as the fields reach depletion, remaining hydrocarbons are found in ever-smaller deposits. Recovering this gas cleanly and cost-effectively, is now being made possible by the development of monotowers for application in the Southern North Sea.
In 2006, Cutter began operating, it is the world's first offshore natural gas production platform powered by wind and solar, North Sea, UK.
On-board the single-leg monotowers are solar panels and wind turbines. By using these renewable energy sources, it means that that the natural gas that’s being extracted is being done so without the production of any emissions. In fact, the platforms run on just 1.2 kilowatts of power, less than it takes to boil a kettle. That compares to as much as 30 kilowatts – supplied by cable, diesel generator, or gas engines – for a typical unmanned platform that provides the same production facilities.
These monotowers cost less than a third of most designs used a decade ago, and are cheaper to operate too. Gas production is monitored and controlled from operation centres onshore which helps reduce safety risks, and maintenance visits are also needed only once every two years, contributing to the low cost operations.
Each steel monotower stands about 65 metres high from the seabed in around 30 metres of water, and is supported by a large diameter single pile driven into the seabed. To date six monotowers have been installed. Cutter and K17, were the first; Caravel, Shamrock, L09-FA and L09-FB monotowers were installed in 2007 and are currently being completed and commissioned into service.
