The Future UK Wind Energy
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Perspective The Future UK Wind Energy Wind energy trends Wind energy projects in the UK are entering a new phase. Turbines are getting larger, capacity greater, associated infrastructure more complex, regulations more challenging, and – for offshore developments – waters deeper. Royal HaskoningDHV has been working at the forefront of the wind industry since its inception, from early onshore wind farms and Round 1 offshore projects, to the giant offshore farms planned as part of Round 3. The UK currently leads the world in offshore wind development. Royal HaskoningDHV has expanded and shaped its experienced renewables team to handle the demands of this fast-paced wind industry. We make our experience count, and we offer an unrivalled service covering a wealth of specialist skills. Working alongside developers, from early site prospecting through to the construction and operational phase, has equipped Royal HaskoningDHV with the knowledge to provide expert solutions for challenging issues such as consenting, transport and logistics, health and safety – and many more. We are flexible, experienced, responsive, and ready to tackle new challenges as more ground-breaking projects are taken forward. Royal HaskoningDHV is working on onshore and offshore wind energy sites culminating in the realisation of major headline projects: n Providing a range of consultancy support from n EIA Co-ordinator for offshore and onshore Contents project inception to completion of the Thanet elements of the first project development Offshore Wind Farm, currently the world’s phase of the Dogger Bank and Firth of Forth Wind energy trends 3 largest operational wind farm; Round 3 Zones; Dealing with EIA and consents 4 n Lead Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) n To see just some of Royal HaskoningDHV’s Managing risk offshore 6 consultant for the up to 560MW Dudgeon Wind Energy achievements turn to page 16. Site assessment 8 Offshore Wind Farm, including a 45km onshore grid connection and one of Europe’s largest Grid connections 10 onshore substations; Transport & logistics 12 Dedicated wind energy team 14 Royal HaskoningDHV’s wind energy achievements 16 2 3 Royal HaskoningDHV Perspective UK Wind Energy Royal HaskoningDHV Perspective UK Wind Energy Dealing with EIA and consents Royal HaskoningDHV is probably best known for the work it does on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for wind energy projects, and rightly so. To date, every offshore wind energy project for which Royal HaskoningDHV has produced the EIA has been consented first time. Royal HaskoningDHV recognises the paramount importance of maintaining flexibility in project design and within the supply chain at the development stage. We work closely with project engineering teams to ensure that this flexibility is maintained within a robust framework of EIA. This provides assurance to regulators and stakeholders that all project permutations are assessed and that the developer understands and can mitigate the impacts that arise once the final design has been fixed, thus reducing consenting risk. In addition, Royal HaskoningDHV recognises that cumulative impacts are now a much more significant element of the consenting process. We are seeing more instances, both onshore and offshore, of multiple projects being developed in the same broad area. This brings new challenges for developers; in particular in relation to potential cumulative impacts on European designated sites. The range of technical and support services for EIA that we provide puts us in a unique position to offer our clients a full end-to-end service, offering expert consultancy and engineering solutions for every aspect of wind energy developments. The experts in our in- house team can cover ecology, hydrogeology, coastal modelling, noise, air quality, transport, health and safety and a number of other specialist disciplines to help ensure the consenting process is as smooth as possible. 4 5 Royal HaskoningDHV Perspective UK Wind Energy Royal HaskoningDHV Perspective UK Wind Energy Managing risk offshore Developers are bound by the Construction Design & Management (CDM) Regulations 2007, which apply to all projects involving construction work carried out in Britain and its territorial waters. The difficulty is that this legislation has most often been applied to land-based projects, which do not always readily integrate with marine activities and maritime legislation. The regulations therefore need to be tailored to meet the As wind farm sites are proposed ever further offshore unique challenges raised by offshore wind energy projects, developers will have to use larger vessels for installation such as: managing the risk of deep water, suitability of and to support maintenance. Royal HaskoningDHV is vessels, heavy lifting operations, competence of workforce, working at Sheringham Shoal to overcome issues associated and structural integrity of the turbines and other support with using an anchored, rather than a jacked-up vessel. structures, as well as the logistics of getting materials and Whilst anchored vessels can work in deeper waters they personnel out to the site under normal circumstances and are subject to wave and tidal motion which makes them in an emergency. more difficult to keep in position, involving the greater risks associated with frequent anchor handling. Issues such as this, and how to replace the use of divers who are currently regularly used to fine-tune installations, will become more difficult to overcome as the Round 3 wind farms start their construction phase. The Royal HaskoningDHV team is primed to minimise and manage the risks associated with wind farm development, taking into account existing conditions and those that the industry will face with the planned Round 3 projects. We want the wind industry to be renowned as a safe environment for its workers, and we encourage best practice in this area through the use of Hazid and Hazops workshops. Hazids (Hazard Identification) workshops bring together all the primary players on a development to identify potential hazards, attribute responsibility to a person/contractor, and explore how those hazards can be mitigated. Hazops (Hazard Operation) workshops are a more process-driven exercise which looks at the implications of different scenarios. Conducting these workshops at the outset of a development is critical to establishing what the risks are and taking early steps to mitigate them. 6 7 Royal HaskoningDHV Perspective UK Wind Energy Royal HaskoningDHV Perspective UK Wind Energy Site assessment Royal HaskoningDHV is drawing on its coastal and marine experience to support the offshore wind industry. Early assessment of coastal processes and seabed conditions can assist a potential development to identify a preferred site or layout, determine design parameters and assess the likely risk posed by scour, mobile seabed sediments and features such as sandwaves. Royal HaskoningDHV has a heritage of The company uses the latest 2D and 3D over 100 years of working with maritime modelling software and data analysis techniques industries to provide metocean, geophysical for waves and tides to help developers ‘future- and geomorphological analysis of the sea proof’ their design of structures that will be bed to inform the design or assessment placed on the seabed; for example by assessing of the environmental impacts of maritime the loading conditions and how wave forces and infrastructure. tidal currents may induce processes of seabed scour which could affect foundations. In some Royal HaskoningDHV’s team uses coastal cases the seabed can alter significantly in a short modelling techniques, supported by desk-based space of time, so it is crucial that developers are analysis, and interpretation of metocean and aware of the variability to expect in the seabed geophysical surveys to understand the seabed where they plan to site an offshore wind farm. and the physical processes that drive the system. By undertaking analysis of historic maps and When it comes to foundations, as the waters charts, it is also possible to understand the where offshore wind farms are sited become longer term changes at a particular site. These deeper, new solutions need to be found. The techniques are also used to ensure that clients traditional approach of constructing support have a comprehensive assessment of Coastal structures using monopile foundations Process Impacts in their EIA. will become less viable and uneconomical. Alternative, often more complex construction methods will present more complex risk management challenges. We are tackling these issues head-on using our far-ranging technical expertise. 8 9 Royal HaskoningDHV Perspective UK Wind Energy Photograph courtesy of Vattenfall Wind Power Ltd Royal HaskoningDHV Perspective UK Wind Energy Grid connections Onshore and offshore grid connections can be substantial projects in their own right, with their own complex barriers to consent. Royal HaskoningDHV is a UK market leader in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of new onshore buried cable systems and substation infrastructure. We have recently led the EIA studies for the offshore and onshore transmission system for the Dudgeon offshore wind farm, including 45km of onshore buried cables and one of Europe’s largest substations. This experience is being carried over into Round 3, where we are providing both onshore and offshore EIA services to the first phases of Seagreen’s Firth of Forth and Forewind’s Dogger Bank developments. The planned Round 3 offshore wind farms