Natural Power has been appointed as the environmental impact assessment (EIA) co-ordinators for the offshore elements of the Narec Offshore Wind Demonstrator Scheme. The Demonstrator will be located offshore from Narec’s Blyth headquarters, and will enable turbine manufacturers to develop novel approaches across the supply chain for new technologies that will aid the delivery of Round 3 and Scottish Territorial Water offshore projects.
It will provide facilities for the testing and demonstration of prototype and pre-production turbines, with the opportunity to also study alternative foundation types, construction methods and remote monitoring. Narec are dedicated to advancing the development, demonstration, deployment and grid integration of renewable energy. The offshore wind demonstration scheme will consist of up to 20 pre-consented ‘pods’ at which tenants may deploy their prototypes, demonstration turbines and foundations. These pods will be in up to four rows, increasing in distance offshore and with water depths of approx 20m, 35, 45 and 55 meters to allow testing of alternative installation methods and foundation types. Natural Power will deploy expertise from a wide range of its consulting and management departments on the project. The development team have been working with Narec since June, and are already well underway co-ordinating the environmental impact survey work. Natural Power’s ecology, technical and marine departments are also involved: The ecology team co-ordinating the baseline ornithology and marine mammal surveys; the technical team are working with Narec to refine the estimates of the long term wind resource available across the site; marine engineers will be undertaking metocean and coastal processes modelling in partnership with Partrac; and Natural Power’s ZephIR wind lidar has already been deployed on site and is successfully up and running providing remote wind resource measurements up to 200 metres from ground level.
It will provide facilities for the testing and demonstration of prototype and pre-production turbines, with the opportunity to also study alternative foundation types, construction methods and remote monitoring. Narec are dedicated to advancing the development, demonstration, deployment and grid integration of renewable energy. The offshore wind demonstration scheme will consist of up to 20 pre-consented ‘pods’ at which tenants may deploy their prototypes, demonstration turbines and foundations. These pods will be in up to four rows, increasing in distance offshore and with water depths of approx 20m, 35, 45 and 55 meters to allow testing of alternative installation methods and foundation types. Natural Power will deploy expertise from a wide range of its consulting and management departments on the project. The development team have been working with Narec since June, and are already well underway co-ordinating the environmental impact survey work. Natural Power’s ecology, technical and marine departments are also involved: The ecology team co-ordinating the baseline ornithology and marine mammal surveys; the technical team are working with Narec to refine the estimates of the long term wind resource available across the site; marine engineers will be undertaking metocean and coastal processes modelling in partnership with Partrac; and Natural Power’s ZephIR wind lidar has already been deployed on site and is successfully up and running providing remote wind resource measurements up to 200 metres from ground level.
