CNOOC banks on innovation for more green progress

China National Offshore Oil Corp, the country's top offshore oil and gas driller, said it has successfully converted a drilling platform into an offshore wind power construction and installation platform for the first time, providing more experience for future offshore wind projects.

The device, namely the Huwei Offshore Wind Power Construction and Installation Platform, has for the first time facilitated its offshore wind turbine installation on Nov 7. This was jointly conducted by the China Oilfield Services Ltd (COSL), a subsidiary of CNOOC, and China Energy Engineering Group Guangdong Power Engineering Co Ltd.

The drilling platform's wind turbine installation is in 50-meter-deep waters and can generate 8 megawatts, it said.

An analyst said the attempt is an innovation by the State-owned enterprise in the new energy sector.

CNOOC's effort in developing offshore wind power is in accordance with government efforts to promote renewable energy, said Wang Ziyue, an analyst at research firm BloombergNEF.

The China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, a think tank linked to China's National Energy Administration, said the domestic wind and solar sector will experience strong growth between 2020 and 2030 due to declining costs and government policy.

CNOOC, with big plans of its own in wind and solar power, aims to invest 5 to 10 percent of its total investment in the solar and wind business each year to make sure the wind and solar sectors can achieve major breakthroughs during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), said Wang Dongjin, chairman of CNOOC.

As the offshore wind sector aligns with the company's overall business, and CNOOC can apply its resources in offshore engineering and experience in offshore operations, the company plans to step up its new energy business with a focus on offshore wind power.

CNOOC saw its first batch of wind turbines, located off the coast of Jiangsu province with a total installed capacity of 300 MW, come into on-grid production by the end of last year.

It first entered the offshore wind business in 2006 but pulled out soon after. One year later, the company started operating the Chinese mainland's first offshore wind power plant, located in Liaodong Bay in the Bohai Sea, with an installed capacity of 1.5 MW for each turbine.

It revived activities in offshore wind power in 2019 and the Jiangsu project is the first offshore wind project it has worked on since that time.

The company has been shifting its focus from fossil fuel to the new energy business as China said it would peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Wang said the company will earmark up to 10 percent of its annual budget for green energy toward the end of the current Five-Year Plan period, up from 5 percent this year. It is also targeting its renewable energy business to generate half of total annual revenues by 2050.

Wang said the investment in new energy will largely go to solar and offshore wind projects, while the company will also be looking at offshore carbon capture and storage.

The investment in new energy will be higher in the later part of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, he said.