Bristol-based Sennen is working with Ørsted to pilot an innovative digital system at the developer’s South Fork, New York’s first offshore wind farm under construction.
Based on Sennen’s technology, the new system is said to help Ørsted plan and deliver the construction of the 132 MW South Fork offshore wind farm.
According to Sennen, this will help Ørsted deploy teams performing different construction phase tasks simultaneously without the risk of interfering with each other’s activities which is a particular issue for on-site multi-contractor management.
Without an automated system, interruption to work can happen, resulting in wasted resources and delays, said the company.
With its tool, Ørsted will have full sight of contractor movements, which should enable them to plan and allocate construction activity easily, efficiently, and safely.
It will be run in parallel with existing processes, to measure potential improvements, Sennen added.
The development of Sennen’s new construction tool has received GBP 112,000 grant funding from the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) which supports high-growth companies in the UK supply chain.
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“The work with Sennen is a great example of how Ørsted collaborates with innovative companies in our UK and Ireland supply chain to the benefit of both organisations. By using Sennen’s technology on one of our live construction projects, we get a valuable, early opportunity to further improve our construction activities – reducing cost and risk”, said David Bould , Head of UK and IE Ventures and Open Innovation at Ørsted.
“We’ll continue to work with Sennen on development of their product and help secure their route to market, both in the UK and Ireland and across our global portfolio, building on previous support from the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership.”
South Fork will be the first completed utility-scale offshore wind farm in US waters, with the project expected to be operational by the end of this year. It will power around 70,000 New York homes each year.
The construction on the wind farm is in full swing with the subsea export cable already connected to the land and with the installation of the first monopile foundation.
The project will comprise twelve 11 MW Siemens Gamesa turbines installed at the project site some 19 miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island, and some 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York.