SMart Wind, the consortium lead by Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Project Ventures, has appointed GL Garrad Hassan to act as Independent Engineer for the first two 500MW projects in the 4GW ‘Hornsea’ zone located off the coast of Yorkshire. Last month the consortium announced it has secured grid connection for the first two 500MW projects with first connection earmarked for 2014.
The international renewable energy consultancy will provide offshore wind expertise across a range of areas in order to deliver technical assurance for stakeholders in the project. The offshore wind team at GL Garrad Hassan boasts an unrivalled breadth of technical expertise and for SMart Wind its experts will provide technical due diligence in relation to the assessment of structures, and analysis of the risk management and layout design processes.
SMart Wind’s General Manager, Chris Hill commented: “After a strong competition GL Garrad Hassan emerged as our preferred consultant for the role of Independent Engineer for the first two projects in the Hornsea zone. Its offshore team has significant expertise in helping to deliver key offshore wind projects across Northern Europe and its technical understanding provides a firm basis on which to make confident decisions. We began our environmental surveys in early spring and are making steady progress towards bringing the first 500MW project to construction by 2014.”
The ‘Hornsea’ project is scheduled to deliver 4,000MW of offshore wind power capacity by 2020, making it an important step in the UK’s move away from conventional power generation to a secure low carbon energy future.
Ian Bonnon, head of offshore wind engineering at GL Garrad Hassan, said “The exciting prospect of projects such as those at Hornsea are exactly why the staff at GL Garrad Hassan came into the wind business and we are delighted to continue our long-running support of the team developing ‘Hornsea’.”
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Source: gl-garradhassan, November 15, 2010;