REDS Completes Lynn and Inner Dowsing Monopile Inspection

Reach Engineering and Diving Services (REDS) has completed internal inspections of 20 monopile foundations at Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind farms. Tidal Transit’s crew transfer vessel (CTV) Ginny Louise was chartered to support the works.

Ed Woodrow, Sales and Marketing Director at REDS, pointed out that the inspection of monopiles is a very specialised and challenging area where health and safety requirements are of paramount importance. “Our divers have to access the water inside the monopile from a height, in a confined space and in poor visibility,” Woodrow explained.

The operation lasted 28 days, with Ginny Louise sailing from Grimsby to the wind farms on a daily basis with a team of seven divers from REDS, two technicians and a site representative from XCECO, a management company that contracted REDS to carry out the inspection of monopiles.

For REDS, this was the 5th contract for Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind farms in seven years, and the first time the company used a CTV from Tidal Transit.

“The onboard facilities are fantastic, but more importantly, the Tidal Transit crew proved to be more than just that – they became part of our team, helping to do the job. I would have no hesitation in using one of Tidal Transit’s vessels in the future,” Ed Woodrow said.

Leo Hambro, Commercial Director at Tidal Transit said: “Becoming involved in this extremely specialised exercise has proved to be interesting and fulfilling for Ginny Louise’s crew members, who are more used to transporting technicians to and from wind farm sites, both nearshore and out as far as Dogger Bank. Both they and the company are anticipating further contracts with REDS with pleasure.”

Lynn and Inner Dowsing are the two adjacent offshore wind farms located off the Lincolnshire coast, UK, with a total capacity of 194MW.

Its previous owners, Centrica and EIG Global Energy Partners (EIG), sold the offshore wind farms to a consortium comprising the UK Green Investment Bank Offshore Wind Fund and funds managed by BlackRock in 2016. Centrica continued as the operator until March 2017, after which the operation has been taken over by Siemens.