SBM Offshore invests in Blue Power hub developer

Dutch floater expert SBM Offshore has invested in Ocean-Power, a company developing an offshore power hub that generates electricity using gas turbines and carbon capture and storage.

The investment by the company follows a memorandum of understanding between SBM Offshore and the Norwegian company signed in June last year.

As a result of this investment, SBM Offshore now holds a minority ownership in Ocean-Power and has appointed one director who has joined the company board.

This investment offers the opportunity to assess the application of SBM’s carbon capture expertise in the power market, leveraging a market-ready solution to support low-carbon electricity generation.

Ocean-Power’s Blue Power hub concept should create electricity from gas and result in significantly lower CO2 emissions due to the use of CCS solutions.

The hub is designed to supply power both to offshore assets as well as national grids, enabling the electrification of both the Norwegian Continental Shelf and the United Kingdom Continental Shelf with minimal or even positive impact on the national grid. It also allows for the balancing of renewable energy sources, such as wind power.

“With Norway currently being the prime market for these solutions, we see value in teaming up with a local partner in an effort to penetrate the market,” said Olivier Icyk, chief business officer at SBM Offshore.