Offshore Renewables
Tidal Energy Transmission & Distribution Network Offshore Substation Wind Energy Onshore Substation Tidal Stream Energy Consumer
Atkins in Offshore Renewables The offshore wind journey has started: 1GW of offshore wind has been built and over 45GW has been launched into the development cycle. As an industry we recognise that to deliver this potential, we need to continuously improve in three key areas: Health and Safety Excellence - Health and Safety needs to be engineered into both our design solutions and our behaviours. Capital Cost Reduction - Current costs are unsustainable for long term scale deployment. Engineering innovation is required across the spectrum to yield real cost savings. Operational Integrity - Turbines and balance of plant need to operate at previously unseen levels of availability. Reliability engineering, access and maintenance and operating methodology need to be placed at the front end of the design process. Atkins understands these issues. At the forefront of high-end offshore technical consultancy for thirty years, Atkins provides expertise and analysis on a vast range of offshore projects. We have a world-class team of offshore Health and Safety experts experienced in H&S planning, HAZOP and HAZID processes and risk assessment. We provide the integrity management for over two thirds of the hydrocarbon assets in the North Sea and we are engaged with the Carbon Trust to use engineering innovation to drive down development costs. We have the skills, the knowledge base and the ambition to enable the sector to achieve real deployment success.
Offshore Renewables With a proud track record in offshore engineering, we offer a comprehensive range of engineering services to developers, fabricators, OEMs and financial institutions to support offshore wind development and assessment: Consents, planning and environmental assessment Geophysical and geotechnical survey specification and data interpretation Foundations and substructure design for wind turbines and met masts Foundations, substructure and topside design for offshore substations Electrical array and export design Cable selection and installation assessment Grid connection studies and assessments Electro-mechanical and mechanical design and analysis of marine energy devices Health and Safety planning and assessment and CDM Project cost control Project management
Concept Design and FEED Early stage concept engineering and FEED (Front End Engineering Design) is an essential part of offshore wind development. We bring together a multidisciplinary team to build geological ground models, assess foundation concepts, assess transmission technology choices and grid connection points, propose and evaluate array layouts and consider installation methodologies. Following concept down-selection, we can optimise design through a FEED study, which can be used to support consenting, cost evaluation and financial close and major contract award. Concept and FEED Case Study BiFab Transition and Jacket Design Atkins has worked closely with BiFab, the leading fabricator of jacket substructures for the offshore renewables sector, to substantially reduce the capital cost of offshore wind through the development of an innovative transition piece and substructure. Recognising that much of the cost of early jacket solutions was in the fabrication of complex transition pieces, Atkins and BiFab developed a smaller, simpler design that reduces fabrication costs by 30-40% based on large scale orders. The concept is suitable for all current and envisaged turbine sizes and any water depth in excess of 15m. We believe the concept will be the most cost-effective solution for many Round 3 and Scottish Territorial Waters sites.
Multidisciplinary Design Engineering Working for developers, fabricators and OEMs, Atkins undertakes complex, multidisciplinary detailed design packages. Our scale and infrastructure project delivery expertise allows us to mobilise teams at short notice to design installations such as onshore substations, offshore substations and ports and harbours facilities. We are engaged at all stages of the project lifecycle of offshore projects from design, installation, operational integrity management and decommissioning. This gives us an unrivalled perspective on how to design fit for purpose offshore structures for the renewables sector. Multidisciplinary Design Engineering Case Study Galloper Offshore Substation We are currently working on our third offshore transformer platform with McNulty, the offshore fabricator. Atkins undertook the detailed design of the Galloper platform which was successfully installed in June 2010. Designed as a normally unmanned installation, it will provide temporary accommodation as well as fulfilling its main role as a substation and control hub. We undertook complete structural and systems design and utilised a wide range of resources from across Atkins, including structural, utilities, electrical, architectural, mechanical, communications and safety disciplines.
Specialist Engineering Analysis Atkins is proud to be home to some of the most technically skilled individuals in the engineering sector in areas such as fatigue assessment, finite element analysis, dynamic analysis, computational fluid dynamics and hydrodynamics. We utilise such expertise to undertake complex engineering analysis in areas such as failure and defect investigation. As the offshore renewables market matures, such engineering analysis will be increasingly required to analyse operational performance of existing products and optimise emerging technologies. Specialist Engineering Analysis Case Study Tidal Turbine Analysis and Design Atkins is working with BiFab to undertake the development design of the HS1000 tidal turbine. Atkins is responsible for the design of the tidal turbine support structure, which includes the foundation, base structures, support framing, cable support and nacelle connection. A basis of design document was created setting out loads and finite element modelling was undertaken to assess member sizing under various load cases. The HS1000 has recently received additional development funding and is moving into detailed design and production.
Project Evaluation and Due Diligence There is an increasing level of high value transactional activity in the offshore renewables sector. Atkins is able to support clients by providing a detailed appraisal and quantification of engineering risks associated with a project. Due diligence is about much more than an assessment of energy yield - much of the risk to a development phase investor is in construction which in turn is dependent on the robustness of site investigation, data interpretation, health and safety planning and engineering design. We are pleased to offer a robust, engineering focused approach to our due diligence activities. Project Evaluation and Due Diligence Case Study Offshore Wind Due Diligence Atkins was commissioned by a financial institution to undertake a technical due diligence assessment of a pre construction UK offshore wind farm to support their evaluation of a potential equity investment. We mobilised a team of senior individuals in a short period of time across structural, electrical, health and safety, construction, wind physics, O&M and environment disciplines to identify and quantify project risks. Each risk was assessed for CapEx, OpEx, Revenue and Schedule impact allowing the client to establish a risk / return profile.
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