Geoengineers to enhance offshore development capabilities

Marine and engineering consultancy LOC Renewables has invested in geological and geotechnical services to underpin technical consulting for offshore wind farm construction.

The company has announced the expansion of its geoscience consultancy team, strengthening its project development capabilities. The team will deliver a range of services related to the mitigation of ground risk for offshore wind development, from concept through to construction and maintenance. Developers all around the world need to face new geotechnical challenges in order to exploit the offshore wind. Ground conditions can prove critical when the decision for a wind farm needs to be taken. The structural design and the response of the construction depend on the ground mechanical characteristics, thus the knowledge of geoengineers is essential.

The geotechnical team will assess the sites identifying the best position for wind farms and cabling corridors. Their collaboration with the structural engineering team will provide all the necessary data to accomplish a successful project. Cara Watson, newly-appointed Lead Engineering Geologist at Longitude Engineering said: "While there are many aspects to consider when it comes to wind farm development, the assessment of ground risk is crucial to a project's success in the construction phase, and over its lifetime. Foregoing the adequate consideration of ground risk introduces uncertainties and increases risks that project developers will usually end up paying for later. For example, without a detailed knowledge of the ground conditions, designers are forced to be more conservative and adopt larger and more expensive foundations for their turbines obtaining the geotechnical and geological ground conditions for a site allows for optimized foundational designs. This, in turn, lowers the risk of damage to equipment, as well as the risk of delays or cost overruns arising from changes to layout, designs or cable routes."

The team is currently employed on a number of projects across Europe and Asia focusing on marine survey planning and management, cable routing and burial, and geotechnical analysis including anchor penetration and scour protection studies, leg penetration analysis, and foundation design.