ORE/22/094 - Floating Offshore Wind - Anchoring Review - Capabilities, Limitations, Novel Solutions, Shared Anchors

Tender description

<p>Anchoring technologies are well known within the offshore industry but floating offshore wind (FOW) introduces new complexities not commonly seen within other industries (e.g. Oil and Gas or Maritime). One area that is causing more issues around anchoring is the seabed conditions found with the shallow water sites considered for the first phase of FOW roll out (&lt;300m water depth). As these shallow water seabeds can be harder in nature, the current industry thinking is that they will be less suited to drag embedment anchors (DEAs). A comprehensive review of seabed properties around the UK continental shelf (with emphasis on key future floating wind deployment areas of North East England, Scotland and the Celtic Sea) and their impact on holding capacity is required. Combined with a review of different anchor capabilities and their applicability to different seabed conditions this would allow the most relevant technologies for the UK market to be identified and mapped out. Such a review would support studies into other more novel areas of anchoring for FOW, for example shared anchors.</p> Keywords: Consultancy