Carbon Trust has awarded a contract for research and development services to Danish consultancy firm, Ramboll.
The key objective of the contract is to finalise the technical de-risking of the OWA supported foundations and assess the benefits for the integrated design of offshore wind support structures.
The project will compare two different design approaches (at a FEED level) when calculating and optimising the wind turbine generator foundation: the ‘current’ industry standard design methodology and an ‘enhanced’ design methodology (sometimes referred as ‘Integrated Design’). In addition, a ‘holistic’ design methodology that explores design optimisations beyond the ‘enhanced’ design methodology will be assessed.
The project will start with parallel desk studies that will define the ‘current’ and ‘enhanced’ design methods.
Image: carbontrust