Design criteria
Metocean studies for first floating wind farms in Welsh waters
Blue Gem Wind
Design criteria
Blue Gem Wind (BGW), a joint venture between Simply Blue Energy and Total, is the developer behind Erebus and Valorous, the first floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea, where, studies have suggested, there could be as much as 50GW of electricity capacity.
BGW appointed ABPmer to deliver the certifiable metocean design bases to inform front end engineering design (FEED) and Detailed Design for both projects. This included the production of fully calibrated spectral wave and hydrodynamic hindcasts.
Using the SEASTATES hindcast database, we refined existing models from our physical process work to support the consenting of Erebus. This enabled us to fully represent the regional oceanographic conditions and nearshore processes, providing a bespoke 40-year hindcast of hydrodynamics and waves. Detailed metocean analysis was then completed on the calibrated hindcast and metocean design bases produced.
The study provided extreme and operational metocean criteria for the array and export cable corridors for both projects.
ABPmer supports marine infrastructure design with comprehensive metocean information to minimise uncertainty, maximise efficiency and ensure compliance with international standards. Find out more about our design criteria services.
Photo: WindFloat Atlantic final hookup at Viana do Castelo, Northern Portugal. Photo courtesy of Principle Power. Artist: DOCK90.
