Shipping and navigation consultancy Nash Maritime has won a contract to provide a package of services to RPS to support the development of BP and EnBW’s Morgan and Mona offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea.
BP and EnBW have together been selected as the preferred bidder for two major leases in the UK offshore wind round 4.
Nash Maritime will deliver services to support the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) through RPS, the ESIA and HRA lead for the project.
The consultancy will work directly with the project development team to support early-stage engineering design, including site boundary, layout refinement and optimisation.
Nash Maritime director Ed Rogers said: “Shipping and navigation are the key drivers in optimising wind farm design and reducing consenting risks today, and we’re delighted to bring our tools, technology and talent to help bp and EnBW shape their plans.
“We are confident we can improve site safety and optimise project value,.
“Joining the project team at the earliest stages of the leasing round gives a real opportunity to apply our expertise and integrated services to develop and fully refine the site.”
Nash Maritime said it is developing navigation risk models supported by geospatial toolkits and datasets to perform navigation constraints analysis.
The consultancy’s ESIA work package will include marine vessel traffic surveys, navigation risk assessment and other supporting assessments to inform the consent work.
Nash Maritime director Jamie Holmes said: “The Irish Sea is an area of significant shipping activity with key routes and trade between busy ports in the UK, Ireland and globally.
“This project has highlighted the value of considering shipping and navigation issues during the early lease stage to strengthen the bid, and de-risk the design and consent of the project.”