German energy company RWE Renewables has chosen UK-based marine consultancy and survey company ABPmer to help design the Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm in the Irish Sea.
Under the contract, ABPmer is evaluating the sediment mobility and scour potential of the wind farm’s site, which is located off the North Wales coast.
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The assessment is intended to help with selecting the cable route, inform the array/export cable design process, and provide information on the wind turbine foundation at the site.
ABPmer project director Heidi Roberts said: “Building on our local knowledge from Awel y Môr and adjacent wind farms, along with offshore wind farm expertise around the UK, our specialists are completing detailed statistical analysis, modelling and interpretation of oceanographic and geophysical data.
“Our seabed mobility risk mapping tools are helping RWE understand the present and future bedform migration, providing vital information in support of the cable route selection and design.”
Using information from its SEASTATES Metocean database, ABPmer plans to map the behavioural characteristics of the seabed across the wind farm site and export cable corridor.
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By GlobalDataIt will analyse oceanographic data from its database and make use of seabed surveys and geophysical data specifically collected for the project.
ABPmer will also use hydrodynamic and sediment transport modelling to map the detail of long-term, regional-scale sediment transport pathways.
To support the landfall selection and design process, the company will also focus on geographic information system (GIS) analysis of coastal data to study the potential for coastal erosion and vertical change in beach levels at the landfall over the project’s lifetime.
The design works for the Awel y Môr Offshore Wind Farm will be carried out throughout this year, with the wind facility expected to come online by 2030.
In September last year, the Scottish Government selected ABPmer to produce an offshore wind plan for new projects aimed at decarbonising Scotland’s oil and gas industries.
