The guests were served cake and welcomed by Statoil’s project manager, Øyvind Håstø. Afterwards, Statoil’s project director for the entire Johan Sverdrup development, Kjetel Digre, talked about development of the project and not least what effect power from Haugsneset has on the entire Sverdrup development. EVP Field Development with Aibel, Nils Arne Hatleskog, spoke of the project’s significance for Aibel and the numerous local subcontractors that have played key roles in the project.
Of the 700,000 hours that have been worked under Aibel’s management, 450,000 hours have been carried out by local manpower. This corresponds to an average of 150 people at the facility at any time during the construction period in the last two years. That was of course something that pleased the local Mayor of Tysvær municipality, Sigmund Lier, who wound up the speeches.
After the cakes and speeches the media and other guests were given a tour in and around the converter building at Haugsneset, where Aibel has achieved a number of important milestones during the autumn. In mid-October the converter building with the two large HVDC halls were delivered according to schedule. On 1 November the pump station, which will supply cooling water to the huge ventilation system in the converter building, was also handed over.
“It has been hectic. Completion of the pump station in particular required a lot of work over a short period. Fortunately, we completed the work in a good way with no incidents, and feedback from the customer has been good,” says Aibel’s project manager Ole Kristian Halvorsen.
Towards Christmas and well into January the project will continue work on installing the HVDC equipment from ABB in the large halls. That work has being going on since mid-September, and Aibel is currently 70 percent done.
“So far there has been a lot of mechanical work, but now we are drawing cables to link up the plant, so it is mainly electrical and instrument work that remains to be done,” the project manager tells.
In parallel Aibel is also working on completing the so-called landfall, which comprises plumbing for four cooling water pipes and two risers for cables in the sea.
“Delivery is scheduled for 1 February next year, and I am not really worried about that, although rough weather has been a challenge along the way. Fortunately we work well when the weather permits,” Halvorsen says.
The final milestone for Aibel is in mid-March 2018, where the entire plant is to be delivered mechanically complete.
Environmental benefit
The completed facility at Haugsneset will supply the Johan Sverdrup field with power from land. Statoil has estimated that this will provide a saving in offshore CO2 emissions of close to 19 million tons in the course of Johan Sverdrup’s lifetime compared to power generated using local gas turbines.
“We’re both proud and pleased to contribute on a project that reduces the environmental impact. This is also in line with Aibel’s strategy of establishing ourselves in renewable energy,” the project manager concludes.
Published 04 December 2017
