COWI has been awarded a contract by Thistle Wind Partners (TWP), a partnership between DEME, Qair, and Aspiravi , to conduct pre-front-end engineering design (FEED) studies for the Ayre and Bowdun offshore wind farms in Scotland.
Under the contract, COWI will carry out a Pre-FEED study for TWP’s Ayre and Bowdun offshore wind farms, which are planned to enter construction in 2029 and produce more than 2 GW of renewable energy by 2032-2032.
COWI will provide an analysis for the foundation design of each offshore wind project. The Denmark-headquartered company will deliver a comprehensive Pre-FEED study that integrates both electrical and civil design elements.
The study will determine the feasibility of the development of robust electrical infrastructure, featuring inter-array cables that connect to offshore substations. The company will also bring its experience in road and railway design to support decisions on onshore wire routing and associated crossings, according to COWI.
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The offshore wind projects were allocated as part of the ScotWind leasing round in 2022.
The 1 GW Ayre floating wind farm is located 33 kilometres to the east of Orkney, while the 1 GW Bowdun fixed-foundation project is situated 47 kilometres off the coast of Aberdeenshire.
A final investment decision for both the Ayre and Bowdun offshore wind projects is planned for 2028 if consent is achieved in 2025.
“Our projects have a busy year ahead with major consenting and engineering milestones ahead of them in 2024,” said Ian Taylor, Project Director, Thistle Wind Partners (TWP).
“We hit the first one in January with the publication of our Onshore Scoping Report for the Ayre project, and ensuring that we have robust electrical and civil designs by the end of the year will maintain the momentum. We welcome our partners at COWI on board our engineering journey as we mix fixed and floating wind technologies across these two ground-breaking projects.”