Offshore WIND Conference Welcomes Startup Circular Energy

Offshore WIND Conference is proud to announce Founder and General Manager of Circular Energy, Arnold Groot, will be speaking at the session ‘Oil, gas, wind: friend or foe’. In this session the changing landscape of cooperation between oil, gas and wind will be discussed and what is in it for wind. Arnold will share his views on how Circular Energy’s power from gas can balance the North Sea offshore grid.

Arnold Groot founded Circular Energy in 2016. In July this year, the startup successfully patented its concept to produce CO2 free power from North Sea gas. The company aims to build an offshore installation that is both a gas production facility and a zero emission gas fired power plant. The CO2 that is emitted during power generation will be captured and injected in the producing gas field. The power will be transmitted to shore, making use of the existing and planned offshore power grid where possible.

Groot: “We are introducing an exciting innovative chain integration approach which can play a key role in the transition to a low carbon economy. By integrating our company to include a power station we develop gas fields – creating value from the recoverable natural gas in the North Sea – and we generate CO2 free power – enabling a steady flow of electricity to shore.” If the power cable would tie into an offshore wind farm rather than directly to shore, Circular Energy could balance the offshore grid, for example, during low wind spells. The startup from Delft is currently doing research into this with a subsidy under the System Integration North Sea program of TKI Offshore Wind (TKI Wind op Zee).

Arnold has a background in oil & gas exploration and production in various roles including facilities engineering, asset management, corporate planning and strategy, and economics with Shell (UK, The Netherlands, Brunei, Nigeria), PetroCanada (UK, The Netherlands) and E.ON (Germany). Arnold has an MSc in Electrical & Electronics Engineering of Twente University and an MBA of Henley Management College. In 2016 he founded Circular Energy, a startup that aims to produce CO2-free power from North Sea gas.

Joining Groot will be Rene Peters, Director Gas Technology at TNO and Ernst van Zuijlen, Director at GROW (Growing through RD&D in Offshore Wind). For more information of the Offshore WIND Conference and to secure your seat, head to www.offshorewindconference.biz.