Danish consultancy COWI has opened a new larger office premises in the former Port of Hamburg area and tripled its team to meet growing local demand from wind energy developers.
The company has ambitions to double its wind energy business in three years, and this month won a contract with Parkwind to deliver the detailed design of monopile foundations for wind turbines and an offshore substation for Arcadis Ost 1 in the Baltic Sea.
COWI believes it is in a strong position to catch wind development demand from Germany, as well as neighbouring countries.
COWI senior market director for offshore wind Jan Ronberg said: “We have recognised the importance of local presence and took a strategic decision to build up a strong team covering all the wind energy related engineering services here in Hamburg.”
“Offshore wind energy is of central importance for the achievement of climate protection targets and Germany like many other countries is in the midst of a huge energy transformation.”
A player in the German wind market since 2013, COWI has delivered feasibility studies and designs for Wikinger, Merkur and Albatros offshore wind farms in the Baltic and North Seas.
With Arcadis Ost 1 the company is back in the Baltic and welcomes the challenge.
Ronberg said: “We are very pleased to be back on the Baltic Sea. It’s a challenging geography which requires special considerations for ice loads, chalk, glacial clay and soft soil in a water depth that varies between 42 and 46 metres – and just what the team has been waiting for.
“We are geared to locally handle all aspects from energy yield assessments and foundation design to geotechnical, electrical and mechanical engineering and lifetime optimisation.”