Baryonyx Corporation announced that it has been invited to negotiate a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy for an initial award under the Wind and Water Power Program. Subject to the outcome of environmental and feasibility assessments, a further phase would see a three-turbine, 18MW wind farm installed offshore Texas.
The Gulf Offshore Wind or ‘GO-Wind’ project was submitted for consideration by a Baryonyx led consortium comprising leading offshore wind turbine manufacturer, Siemens AG, South Texas based offshore fabricator Keppel-Amfels, and U.K. based Offshore Design Engineering. Our lead academic partner is Texas A&M University.
Ian Hatton, CEO of Baryonyx said “a key objective of this initiative is to show how the unit cost of energy from offshore wind can be driven down. The combination of an excellent wind resource, efficient large capacity turbines and the ‘know-how’ benefits of the established Gulf of Mexico fabrication industry provide the essential ingredients that can enable the project to meet its objectives for future potential up-scaling”.
Baryonyx was able to bring first-hand experience of ground-breaking offshore wind development to the ‘GO-Wind’ proposal. Its management team conceived, undertook environmental impact assessment, obtained permits and developed the industry leading ‘Ormonde’ project located on the UK’s west coast. ‘Ormonde’ is considered by industry as an exemplar of the next generation of offshore wind farm development comprising larger generation capacity, 5 MW turbines on ‘jacket’ type structures. There, from an early stage, the team partnered with Offshore Design Engineering who ensured Ormonde was delivered safely, on-time and on-budget.
Subsequent to the agreement of a contract with the DoE, the next key step for the ‘GO-Wind’ project will be to initiate the environmental assessment studies under the supervision of the US Army Corps of Engineers. “The public consultation process for the project was recently completed by the USACE. Constructive feedback from many interested organisations and individuals was received and this information will be used to shape the assessment studies needed before a decision to install the ‘GO-Wind’ demonstration project can be made” said Ian Hatton.
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Press release, December 17, 2012; Image: baryonyxcorp