SSE Renewables has contracted Danish consultancy Ramboll and Irish consultancy GDG to deliver concept design for the foundations for the 520MW Arklow Bank 2 offshore wind farm off the coast of Ireland.
The consultancies will work together on technical assessments of the preferred foundation solutions, including sizing, to enable accurate cost estimates to be developed for the upcoming RESS auction in 2021.
Both companies are familiar with the wind farm, with Ramboll having delivered the original consent for the project and GDG having worked on the development activities including desktop studies, survey management and the ground model.
The partners said: “By working closely together, we can accelerate the overall design programme by providing sufficient information at concept stage to make key decisions and de-risk the project prior to the detailed engineering stage.
“Equally important to cost-effective design is the underlying technology and methods that will enable achieving this; both Ramboll and GDG are leaders in the market and have a proven track record of obtaining certification of monopile designs using design methods that help reduce project costs.”