Regulator open to using green energy on oil rigs
North Sea oil rigs could soon be powered by renewable energy, Britain's regulator has said as it tries to extract as much of the country's oil and gas reserves as possible.
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said it is working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and others in a bid to test the opportunities that renewables could bring to the North Sea.
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The OGA said it has been given a £900,000 grant from the Better Regulation Executive to start a project on how to support the transition to renewable energy.
It will also explore how to produce and transport hydrogen offshore as a method to store clean energy, and capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using existing infrastructure.
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OGA boss Andy Samuel said: “This is a really exciting opportunity to advance the energy transition agenda, looking at practical steps that can be taken and how we as regulators can support that.
“Oil and gas will be required to power our economy and heat our homes for the foreseeable future, but to me it is clear there are great opportunities now to more closely link up all forms of offshore energy production to generate power more cleanly and efficiently.”