Energy transition: The oil and gas tech behind a new offshore wind industry

Businesses should dig into their IP portfolios for anything that could be re-deployed in the energy transition—or even look at old tech for R&D inspiration, says John Johnston of HGF.

As the energy transition takes centre stage of the global energy conversation, there is an ever-increasing focus on sustainable and renewable energy technologies.

However, a successful energy transition is not just about developing completely new technologies, but will also be reliant on leveraging decades of innovation developed in established industries like oil and gas.

Technologies originally devised to solve challenges in oil and gas are now being used and further developed to facilitate the energy transition, particularly through application in offshore wind.

This use and development of existing technology offers numerous benefits: it can help shorten development timelines, reduce R&D expenditure, and can mitigate risks by applying proven solutions in new contexts.

Further, intellectual property (IP) associated with new and existing technologies may be utilised to create a valuable revenue stream through the licensing of the IP rights to third parties, or by providing the rights holder with a unique offering to the market by preventing competitors from introducing the innovative technology.

Additionally, protecting innovations that have application across both oil and gas and offshore wind industries enlarges the market opportunity for the technology and the proprietor.

From subsea foundation systems and dynamic cables to floating platforms and installation vessels, patented technologies are bridging the gap between oil and gas and renewables.

In this article, I discuss some exemplary technologies that are either patented or have patent pending status that have their roots in oil and gas but have successfully found application in the offshore wind industry.

Subsea foundations

Subsea foundations provide stable support structures on the seabed for offshore installations in both the oil and gas and offshore wind industries. The oil and gas industry has relied on technology related to jacket structures, piling and cementing for decades, and this is finding application in fixed-bottom offshore wind.

One particular development is described in granted patent GB2584902, owned by Subsea 7, which focuses on suction pile technology. Suction piles are frequently used in the oil and gas industry for anchoring jacket structures, but this patented technology has been developed to improve the foundation strength when installed in soft seabed soils.

The innovative method includes embedding the foundation in seabed soil and evacuating soil from the foundation. Then, a partition layer formed of grout is provided on top of the soil. The aim is to reduce settlement under large load without the need to increase the foundation size.

While the patent application was drafted with oil and gas platforms in mind, offshore wind farms are typically located closer to shore for ease of grid connection and to reduce costs.

As such, offshore wind farm sites are often in areas with softer soil conditions. Therefore, this technology and its associated IP may be re-deployed into the offshore wind industry to increase the lateral stability of wind turbine foundations.

Scour protection

Scour protection is the prevention of erosion of seabed sediment around offshore structures, for example subsea foundations as discussed above. Scour occurs when currents remove sediment from around a subsea structure, impacting the stability of foundations.

One recent innovation related to scour protection is disclosed in Balmoral’s patent application WO2025/062142, which covers their well publicised HexDefence scour protection system.

This system was initially developed for the oil and gas industry and originated from existing vortex-induced vibration (VIV) suppression products. Existing designs were then developed to address erosion around offshore wind turbine foundations that replaces the need for rock dumping.

The protection system is made up of panels that look a bit like big hexagonal shields. The panels are lightweight, modular and are arranged to reduce the velocity of water flow around the base of a subsea structure.

Although the technology has patent pending status, the focus of the patent application is on preventing scour around a generally tubular subsea installation. Therefore, this technology and its associated IP may be deployed across both oil and gas and offshore wind.

Tension leg platforms

Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs) are a type of floating offshore structure that are anchored to the seabed using tethers held in tension. TLPs have been used in the oil and gas industry for decades, particularly in deepwater operations where fixed jackets are not feasible, and are increasingly being considered for floating offshore wind applications.

As such, many of the underlying principles for TLPs in oil and gas are now being adapted for floating offshore wind.

A development by GE Renewables Technologies is disclosed in EP2743170 (now lapsed) and built upon prior TLP technology as used in oil and gas.

The invention aimed to provide a TLP structure that provides improved stiffness to accommodate the increasingly more powerful and larger wind turbines now being deployed.

Existing TLP tendons do not provide the desired stiffness, and existing ways of increasing the stiffness are prohibitively expensive.

The innovative structure provided anchoring tendons having a number of segments having different structural and/or mechanical characteristics that vary depending on sea depth.

Summary

Like many innovations, renewable energy technologies are not, for the most part, being devised in isolation from the technologies and innovations that have come before.

As this article highlights, many of the solutions being developed for and deployed in offshore wind are refinements and re-deployments of technologies first developed to solve complex challenges in the oil and gas industry.

In addition to the technologies discussed above, there are numerous others relating to inspection/maintenance, subsea cables, umbilicals, manufacturing and power transmission to name but a few.

This cross-sector evolution highlights the strategic importance of managing and protecting IP. By adapting proven technologies for new markets and securing IP rights that span multiple applications, businesses can create new market opportunities and re-deploy technology and IP across industries.

Businesses should consider taking a fresh look at their IP portfolios to see if there are any hidden gems that could be re-deployed in the energy transition, or even look at someone else’s old technology for inspiration when conducting R&D.

John Johnston is a senior patent attorney in the Engineering group at HGF. He can be contacted at: jjohnston@hgf.com