Irish Offshore Engineering company, Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions Ltd. (GDG) have recently been appointed to support the Taiwanese Hai Long Offshore Wind Farm, by providing geotechnical and geophysical Owners Engineering services. The Hai Long 2 and 3 projects have consent for up to 1044MW of new renewable electricity and are in advanced development stages.
2020 is shaping up to be a busy year for the project with significant survey and design work to be conducted. The site investigations comprise the final geotechnical campaigns for the turbine locations, geophysical and geotechnical campaigns to support cable engineering as well as specialist surveys for other aspects of the project. GDGs' role on the project is to support the project developers, which include Canadian independent power producer Northland Power Inc. (NPI), Yushan Energy Co., Ltd. and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., who have partnered for the development of the Hai Long 2 and 3 wind farms in zones 18 and 19 offshore Changhua, Taiwan. The services being provided by GDG include geotechnical strategy support, site investigation management including local operational support, client representatives, ground &modelling and owners engineering around key interfaces such as the substructure design. The development activities are on a progressive timeline with installation planned for 2023.
Managing Director for GDG stated that "We are delighted to be involved in such a prestigious project that could deliver a GW of renewable energy to help power Taiwan in the near future. The Changhua area of Taiwan is known to be technically challenging with specific issues such as earthquake induced liquefaction, typhoons, and a developing supply chain all requiring detailed consideration. This type of project is very well suited to GDGs' expertise in providing technical support and engineering services for complex environments. Furthermore, we are confident that by working collaboratively with Northland Power International (NPI) and the wider Hai Long team, this project will be delivered in an optimized and efficient manner"
Deputy BOP Package Manager and Foundation EPC Package Manager for Hai Long Offshore Wind, Alex Patrascu, stated "Our collaboration with GDG brings a depth of expertise and technical capability into the project team through the owners engineer role. The project team is now bolstered with GDGs' extensive engineering ability, which will help de-risk the project, bring additional certainty to critical areas and hopefully help drive down costs. We look forward to continuing our working relationship with GDG in the months and years ahead as the project advances through the survey campaigns and moves into design, fabrication and installation."
ABOUT GDG:
Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions (GDG) is a specialist engineering consultancy, which was founded in Dublin, Ireland in 2011 and has since grown to a team of over 70 staff. From offices throughout Ireland and the UK, GDG service international offshore and marine engineering projects. GDG works with developers, contractors and other consultants to help mitigate project risks and optimise the design and engineering. GDG has a highly qualified team of experts with more than half of the technical staff being PhD qualified in specialist areas of offshore analysis and design.