Centrica and Dong Energy recently shelved their development plans for their Celtic Array offshore wind farm, incurring a write-down loss of approximately £40 million.
The decision came after an assessment of the seabed which was confirmed as too challenging to work in and would have made the project economically unviable with the technology available to the industry today.
GeoSea – DEME’s specialist in complex offshore marine engineering projects – regularly work in areas of tough terrain and have a breadth of experience when it comes to navigating challenging seabed conditions.
A spokesperson from GeoSea commented on the news of the Celtic Array being shelved:
“The news is a disappointment for the UK offshore wind industry, however as this clearly demonstrates, the complexity of the seabed is not something to be taken lightly and can seriously affect the outcome of a project.”
The company have put forward Jan Klaassen, Business Unit Manager, to discuss the implications of working on Offshore Wind projects within areas of complex soil at the Offshore Wind Procurement & Construction Summit in Hamburg this November with the aim of shedding some light on the subject. He will be covering the following topics from the Celtic Array setback:
- Lessons learned from one UK and one German project that faced challenges with complex soil
- Examine what special jacking procedures can be employed when working in difficult areas, and:
- Discuss the importance of accurately assessing the ground risk and understand the cost and timeline implications not doing so could create.
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