The Celtic Sea’s first floating wind project, the 32MW TwinHub being built off south-west England, has brought in UK maritime consultancy London Marine Consultants (LMC) for lead-off engineering work on the landmark array.
LMC’s front end engineering design (FEED) contract for the project will encompass consultation through the construction, installation, and start-up phases of the pilot, which is based around two-turbine TwinWind units supplied by Sweden’s Hexicon installed in xx metres of water off Cornwall.
“Having the opportunity to be part of this unique project which sets a standard for how future floating projects are planned and executed at scale is incredibly gratifying… [as] floating wind history [is] being written with this project”, said LMC director Nick Palmer.
TwinHub managing director James Brown said LMC’s “knowledge in the field… will be highly valuable in optimising the TwinWind technology for deployment at TwinHub”.
LMC will work with a team of specialist contractors engaged for the project including US construction giant Bechtel, German wind engineers Sowento, geotechnical outfit Ryder and international classification body DNV to support the project as it moves thorough construction, installation, and commission.
Hexicon earlier this year secured the first-ever UK Contract for Difference (CfD) for a floating project, with the award of a 15-year revenue support deal for TwinHub.
UK seabed landlord the Crown Estate in July published a mapped out plan for five gigascale zones for stepwise development of floating wind arrays in the Celtic Sea, with a view to seeing as much as 24GW online by 2045.
The UK government considers how to progress on the national offshore wind target set in April of having 50GW turning by 2030 including 5GW of floating arrays.
DNV calculates floating wind projects currently make up over 15% of the total offshore wind deployment in the pipeline for switch-on by mid-century, some 264GW of the 1,748GW slated to be installed.
