The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has started a project to produce guidance on seabed change and how it affects offshore wind and marine energy projects.
ORE Catapult is leading a consortium consisting of SSE, ESB, Scottish Power Renewables and RWE, with seabed mobility experts Cooper Marine Advisors and Partrac.
The 18-month project will produce guidance on seabed mobility for use in planning offshore wind and marine energy developments worldwide.
A mobile seabed can present risks to installations such as buried cables or offshore wind turbine foundations.
These threats need to be identified and managed to reduce potential damage or disruption to an offshore project and reduce the potential cost of repair or replacement.
ORE Catapult project engineer Charlotte Strang-Moran said: “As the number of offshore wind installations expand at an ever-increasing rate across the UK and around the world, it’s vital that we understand how changes on the seabed affect these developments.
“Seabed mobility presents potential risks for renewable installations, including offshore wind, wave and tidal energy projects and there is currently no recognised industry approach to assessing this risk.
“These guidelines will be relevant to multiple geographic locations and could significantly reduce costs for these projects.”
The Seabed Mobility project aims to provide clear guidelines, drawing on best practice within the industry, to assess seabed mobility from site selection to delivery of a project – providing transparency across the industry, and confidence for developers and investors.