Atkins Reaching New Depths with Beatrice Jacket Substructures

Seaway Heavy Lifting (SHL) has appointed Atkins to carry out the detailed design of the jacket substructure and foundations for the 588MW Beatrice offshore wind farm in the outer Moray Firth, UK, as part of SHL’s EPCI contract with the farm’s developer Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited (BOWL).

84 jacket substructures and associated foundations for the Siemens 7MW turbine will be installed at varying water depths up to 55 metres which represents the deepest jacket substructures in use for an offshore wind farm anywhere in the world.

Design and engineering is well advanced with Atkins’ offshore wind team supporting the project from Glasgow and delivered from a number of offices in the UK.

Andy Thompson, Atkins’ offshore wind deliver director, said: “This is a very exciting project for us as it underlines our ability to design jacket structures for the latest turbines in deep water. This capability compliments our ability to design XL monopiles for the latest turbines, floating structures for wind turbines in deep waters and fixed offshore substations.”

In another first, Atkins is undertaking an iterative approach to detailed coupled analysis and environmental loading analysis of the substructure, helping to better understand the complex relationship between the wind turbine and substructure as well as the environmental impacts on the overall structure.

“The project approach adopted by SHL and BOWL has allowed Atkins to develop the design from concept, through front end engineering and design (FEED) and into detailed design along with other vital members of the Beatrice supply chain,” Thompson said.

“Drawing on years of jacket design experience in oil and gas, and an industry leading offshore wind team, we’re designing the first mass-produced deep water jacket substructure for an offshore wind farm. The evolution of the jacket substructure in this way is enabling savings on steel, fabrication and installation costs as we are developing a lighter, simpler and highly standardised substructure.”