Subsea All Electric Systems

Electric Subsea Technology

Utilisation of Electric Subsea Technology will grow in the future due to
the inherent environmental and functional advantages zero discharge
and significant system simplifications result from elimination of
hydraulics.

FMC Technologies Low-Voltage Approach

FMCs electric subsea technology utilises
existing low-power umbilical and connector
technology, which provides a safer operating
environment and prevents corrosion from
stray high-voltage currents.
This technology reduces costs for topside
power generation, transformer equipment

Li-ion batteries are largely produced for hightech professional and consumer applications
and are easily integrated due to their small
size. Their proven reliability ensures a low
rate of failure in service, no sudden death, or
performance deviations. Li-ion batteries provide
exceptionally long life cycles and maintenancefree technology allowing for low life-cycle cost.

Electric technology is well suited for a large

number of subsea applications:

Installation of an eSCM

The technology uses standard subsea cables

and connectors along with rechargeable
subsea batteries to power valve and actuator
operations, so no high-power/ high-voltage cable
from the surface is needed.

Li-Ion Technology

Without the use of hydraulic fluids, electric

subsea developments are environmentally
safe. FMC Technologies leads the industry in
subsea all-electric technology, with field proven
subsea experience operating multiple chokes
on installed production wells since 2001.









and umbilicals, and components are adaptable

to upgrade existing systems.

Long distance tiebacks

Water injection wells
Chokes
Manifold valves
Valve actuator retrofits
Process control valves for subsea separation
Anti-surge valves for subsea gas
compression

FMC have developed a Battery Management

System (BMS) dedicated to the application.
Features in this system allow users to manage:
power flow in the systems; charging strategies;
monitoring of voltage, current and temperature;
cell balancing and redundancy switching with a
CAN interface.

Electric Subsea Control

Module (eSCM)
The electric Subsea Control Module
(eSCM) governs the electric control system.
It comprises traditional SEM technology
as in ordinary SCMs for communication,
power conditioning and data acquisition.
It also houses the Li-Ion Battery Packs and
the Battery Management System (BMS).

Separate eSCMs for full redundancy

Electric XT valves
The XT valve actuators utilize the same core technolgy as the
manifold and choke actuators, and fail safe battery operated
actuators are alredy in operation subsea. Redundancy and 3rd party
certification according to IEC 61508 Safety Integrity Levels (SIL) is
applied to ensure safe operation. Mechanical fail safe actuators are
also available.

Base case fail safe option

Li-Ion cells battery

Electrical Actuator

www.fmctechnologies.com/subsea

Further development of
electric subsea technology

Electric manifold valves

Actuator systems also can be used to operate
manifold and pipeline sled valves. Electric
manifold valve control is especially attractive
in systems where control modules can be
eliminated from the manifold. The technology
offers precise position control and can be
applied subsea without a hydraulic umbilical,
providing huge cost-saving potential.
Basing the system on local energy storage with
rechargeable batteries enables cost-efficient
retrofit scenarios like those of Statoils Norne

system in the North Sea. In the Norne

system, electrical operation replaces
manually and hydraulically operated valves
and chokes.
This modification results in better
response times for the chokes, enables free
routing of existing and new infield wells
and liberates hydraulic lines in an existing
umbilical. Capital expenditures for the field
extension are reduced significantly.

FMCs demonstrated and qualified

technology offers a solid platform for further
development and is suitable for a range of
other applications, including:








Ultra-long distance tiebacks

Water injection wells
Manifold valves
Retrofit hydraulic actuators
Retrofit manual valves and chokes to add
remote actuation
Process control valves for subsea
separation
Anti-surge valves for subsea gas
compression

FMC Technologies subsea electric

technology powered by rechargeable
batteries has been proven in the field.
FMC will continue to work with its
customers to meet their needs and will
go on conducting field installations to
ensure that FMCs products and systems
are dependable, reliable and safe.

Failsafe Electric Actuator

Standard electric actuator

Reference Projects
PROJECT
Choke actuator

The system was developed for easy integration

into existing subsea control system
architectures, with no impact on communication

YEAR

StatoilHydro
StatoilHydro
StatoilHydro

2001
2006
2008

StatoilHydro

2006

Petrobras

2008

Woodside

2008

StatoilHydro
BP

2008
2008

Choke Control
Statfjord Satellites
sgaard
Gja

Electric Choke Actuator

An electric choke actuator system, consisting
of electric choke controls and a sand detection
system, was retrofitted to Statoils Statfjord
project in 2001. Due to the success of this
system, the technology for electrical actuators
powered by rechargeable batteries has been
proven in the field

OPERATOR

Manifold and choke control

Norne Retrofit
quality and a minor increase in power
consumption. To avoid loss of production,
the new system was designed so it could
be installed without having to retrieve
the SCMs (Subsea Control Modules) or
choke bridges. All subsea equipment was
designed for installation with ROV support.
The choke actuators are easy to adapt to
any ROV interface.

Water injection control

Albacora
Pig valve control
Pluto
Intervention
RLWI Mk2
RLWI Mk2

Copyright April 2008 | FMC Technologies | 3D illustrations by Industriell Dokumentasjon

www.fmctechnologies.com/subsea

FMC Technologies
1777 Gears Road
Houston TX 77067
USA
Phone: +1 281 591 4000

FMC Technologies
P.O. Box 1012
NO-3601 Kongsberg
Norway
Phone: +47 3228 6700