Bureau Veritas (BV) has been selected to undertake the project certification of Erebus, the first offshore wind farm in the Celtic Sea and one of the largest floating offshore wind projects in the world.
Located 44 kilometers from the Pembrokeshire coastline, Wales, and in water depths of up to 75 metres, the Erebus project aims to be fully operational by 2026 and will deliver up to 100 MW of energy.
The Erebus project is the result of TotalEnergies teaming up with Simply Blue Group in a joint venture named Blue Gem Wind.
Igor Maere , Hull & Mooring Manager at Blue Gem Wind, said: ”Achieving independent verification and certification is an essential part of developing Erebus and we are delighted to be working with BV on this important work scope.”
Principle Power Inc. will design the floating platforms, based on the latest generation of their Windfloat® technology. This floater concept received an “Approval in Principle” from Buerau Veritas in 2016. The ballasted, semi-sumbersible platform supports the latest generation multi-megawatt wind turbine generators, Bureau Veritas said. The three-column platform is moored with a five-line catenary mooring system and is equipped with a closed-loop ballast system to compensate for changes in mean wind velocity and direction.
Bureau Veritas will be providing independent verification and project certification in line with regulatory requirements. The scope of the evaluation includes all the design phases including site condition assessment, design basis evaluation, integrated load analysis and detailed design evaluation for all the components of the floating wind turbines, including the inter-array cables.
To support the design documentation review, Bureau Veritas will provide independent analysis leveraging its integrated modeling tool Opera – which accounts for all components of a floating asset or wind turbine, covering everything from mooring systems to blades. Opera addresses the complex physics of aero-hydro couplings and multibody interactions and manages sea-keeping and station-keeping for floating structures, the company said.
The certification scope is planned to include all post-design phases from manufacturing to operations, including Transportation & Installation (T&I) and commissioning.
”Supporting new low carbon supply chain opportunities and creating long-term value for the region is at the core of our mission at Bureau Veritas,” Paul Shrieve , Vice President Global Services at Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore, said.
”It is good to see we continue to grow our local engineering and certification capability here in the UK. I am also proud to see our continued leadership in mitigating risks in Marine Renewable Energy, through our expertise and tools such as Opera, giving our clients the peace of mind they need when de-risking these complex projects. We enable innovative projects to evolve rapidly towards go-to-market solutions, which is very rewarding.”