Global Maritime's Geosciences team have been awarded a pivotal piece of work by Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. The project is focussed on addressing key challenges associated with seabed characterisation and anchor design for floating offshore wind, drawing on Global Maritime's floating wind project development and design experience, our project partners at University of Aberdeen and Subsea Micropiles Ltd., and our network of connections in the floating wind sector.
The work focusses on developing a range of strategic approaches to floating wind seabed characterisation, depending upon the particular seabed conditions and associated heterogeneity, and the particular combination of foundations and moorings. The work will also appraise conventional and novel anchor designs, providing criteria for down-selection and also representative designs for various seabed conditions.
Global Maritime’s Director of Geosciences, Gareth Ellery commented, “The cost-effective deployment of floating offshore wind at scale is now of critical importance for renewable energy goals of governments worldwide in the race to net zero. Floating wind encompasses our heritage in floating oil and gas, and over two decades in fixed bottom wind with over 25 floating wind projects globally, to date. We are determined to strategically support the deployment of floating wind and are thrilled with the ORE-Catapult project win.’’
Jordan Geear, Project Manager and Global Lead for Engineering Geology said “The build out of Floating Offshore will require a significant change in the scale and pace of foundation installation. This represents a key challenge to the planning of Site Investigations for Floating Wind projects, in enabling the timely characterisation of the ground conditions across a site, while being resilient to changes in anchor type and location. Effective analysis of ground risk and opportunity will be key to developing robust Site Investigation Strategies for Floating Wind, and we are pleased to be supporting ORE-Catapult in addressing these challenges.”
Read more about our geoscience capabilities here!
Photo credit: Photo of the Hywind Scotland project.
About Global Maritime
Global Maritime is a marine, offshore and engineering consultancy that provides specialist and owners engineering, integrated geoscience solutions, marine warranty, dynamic positioning, and marine consultancy. Known for innovation, practical experience, operational excellence, and safety. Founded in 1979, Global Maritime’s services span the entire offshore project lifecycle from early concept, Pre-FEED, FEED, and detailed design through to construction and decommissioning.