COWI to Design Foundations for 15 MW Empire Wind Turbines

Empire Offshore Wind has awarded the engineering consulting group, COWI, with a contract to deliver a turnkey design for the wind turbine foundations for the Empire Wind 1 and 2 projects off the coast of Long Island, New York.

This is COWI’s largest offshore wind engineering contract in the US to date, the company said.

With an anticipated generation capacity of more than 2 GW of renewable power, the Empire Wind development will utilize 15 MW wind turbines and is expected to play a major role in meeting New York State’s goal of reaching 70 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

COWI will provide over 100 experts to work on all aspects of the wind turbine foundation design, from the tower interface to the seabed fastening – including steel, geotechnical and electrical design for the project, as well as engineering support for fabrication, transportation, and installation.

The development spans 80,000 acres and is in water depths ranging from 65 to 131 feet. The project calls for the detailed engineering of 138 foundations with diameters of approximately 30 feet and lengths up to 330 feet, COWI said.

Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and BP, is the owner and developer of the two wind farms with a combined capacity of around 2,070 MW.

”It’s developments like this that really excite us, a complex engineering project, at the head of the development of a new industry in the US, that has huge social benefits and will help New York and the US achieve their renewable energy goals,” Greg Matzat, Market Director, Offshore Wind & Renewables at COWI, said.

”The offshore wind industry in the US is booming, and we see great potential here for our engineers to continue providing innovative solutions for our clients.”

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