OWC and Empire Engineering have been appointed by Thistle Wind Partners (TWP) to provide owner’s engineering services for the 1GW Ayre and 1GW Bowdun offshore wind farms in Scotland.
OWC will lead three technical packages-covering wind turbines, wind resource and layouts, and cables, civils and electricals-alongside overall owner’s engineer project management. The work will be delivered by an interdisciplinary team from OWC’s Glasgow office, with installation support from ABL.
Empire Engineering will provide owner’s engineering for the foundation package across both sites. Its scope includes concept selection support, design documentation review, benchmarking, and bankability assessments for both fixed and floating systems.
Ayre, a floating wind project, is located 33km off Orkney and will cover 200km². Bowdun, a bottom-fixed development, is located 44km off the coast of Aberdeen and spans 187km².
Lee Goulding, TWP’s engineering and technical director, said the dual appointment supports delivery of 2GW of capacity across two technically distinct projects.
“These projects present differing design requirements across floating and fixed-foundation technologies,” he said.
Empire Engineering’s head of floating wind Benoit Briere said the team was proud to support projects that address Scotland’s energy transition goals.
Kate Johanessen, OWC’s country manager in Scotland, added: “It’s our mission to support the holistic optimisation of the project design and delivery strategy from the pre-FEED stage towards implementation.”