WORKING AT HEIGHTS - Wind Energy Network

specialist surveying featureCablingCabling is also a major consideration. While clearly, distanceto shore becomes an issue, the cable also needs to cross anincreasingly dynamic range of offshore environments; seabedtypes, deep channels, man-made obstructions and so on. Theseenvironments are often inhospitable for cable burial ploughs,sleds and tracked burial ROVs and similarly the deploymentof heavily armoured cables can be difficult. Cabling can be leftsusceptible to damage and requiring additional monitoring,protection and inspection.Export cable route surveys form a large element of our work in thesector, and are often complex and time consuming. Numerousroute options are evaluated, and the overall objective is to identifythe most economic, safe and operationally sound route toshore. Generally, developers are fully prepared to award sizeablecontracts to survey contractors to receive the detailed seabedinformation necessary to make these decisions, as cabling errorsare typically incredibly costly to resolve.The additional technical demand at challenging locations hasresulted in Osiris Projects focusing their methodologies towardsultra-high resolution survey packages.As the offshore wind market has evolved the developershave embraced the benefits of the detail now available whilstmonitoring their assets, both WTG foundations and cables.interpretation challenges. One way the company addressesthis issue is to adopt a collaborative approach to site and officebased work, whereby commonly a project is followed throughthe acquisition, processing, interpretation and reporting phasesby the same team.Osiris Projectswww.osirisprojects.co.ukMany challengesIt is difficult to identify the most significant challenge in anindustry that faces so many, but in Osiris Projects’ experience itis operating within the environmentally problematic areas whichare so suited to offshore wind that generate the majority ofissues. Offshore contractors await weather windows to performmyriad tasks. The risk of poor weather – the kind of conditionswhich would be best case scenario for an existing wind farm –during the summer months scheduled for installation can have asignificant impact on a project.While clearly there is no solution to bad weather, the risk canbe mitigated through effective planning, personnel training, andvessel and equipment development.Often the challenge is less about the physical weather conditionsand more about the “fast-tracked” time schedules set out fordevelopers and governments throughout Europe.Round 3 developmentsRound 3 presents a number of challenges. Being furtheroffshore and in deeper water naturally increases resourcerequirements, and clearly the extraordinary scale createsnumerous concerns. The traditional monopile design has awater depth limit of approximately 30m, and with Round 3developments being constructed in water depths between 18-60m the next generation of foundations such as tripod, jacketand gravity based designs will dominate. A few have also shownthe potential for floating wind turbines. These designs typicallydemand a greater seabed footprint, which for us at OsirisProjects means increased surveying requirements.+44 (0)3333 441113A new ApproAchto AviAtion impAct Assessments...• pre-planning site assessments• Field surveys (accurate quantification of impact)• Full aviation impact assessments• impartial, expert advice from professionalswith 20+ years’ experience in communicationsengineering & Air traffic managementBecause measurement isbetter than prediction.Aerostat surveys Ltd. +44 (0)3333 441113www.aerostat.co.uk enquiries@aerostat.co.ukwww.windenergynetwork.co.uk107