Offshore Renewables Part 1

As part of the fabled “Blue Economy “the Indian Ocean is observing research being extensively carried out in the sphere of maritime oriented renewable energy sources. Proponents of offshore renewables are advocating marine ecologically compliant polices regulating maritime energy development, and concurrent institutional frameworks to assess environmental impact on marine habitats , stocks of marine species and endangered fish species at national and international levels.

Exclusive Economic Zones

Offshore wind energy in India rose from a nascent Indian ocean exposure or deployment of offshore infrastructure in India replete with social and environmental challenges. India’s large coastline comprises of an extensive offshore wind energy potential sustained by almost 2.3 million sq.km of exclusive economic zones .

Ultra Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Sector

India is unique in the sense that it has nine maritime states with the longest coastline being of Gujarat and then Tamil Nadu which is supportive for the oil and gas industry. In the offshore oil and gas sector advancement has taken place in the offshore energy infrastructure in India. India’s main hydrocarbon player the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has been operating offshore oil and gas fields in Mumbai, known as “Bombay High ” , since 1976. On the eastern coast offshore field potential exists in the Krishna–Godavari– Mahanadi basin . The subsea joint venture project of Reliance and British Petroleum in the Krishna–Godavari basin is a relatively recent development enforced through installation of ultra-deep infrastructures for the extraction of gas.

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Meeting Future Gas Needs

According to independent analysts the three recently developed deep water gas projects may supply around 15 % of India’s gas demand by the year 2023. India has been enterprising as evident from the oft touted “Deep Ocean Mission” focusing on exploring the sea bed and sub-sea minerals and energy and has allocated above 40 billion rupees albeit in a staggered manner.