Kent has secured a contract to undertake pre-front-end engineering and design for the Morven wind project off Aberdeen.
Secured by developers BP (LON:BP) and EnBW as part of the 2022 Scotwind leasing round, the 2.9GW project will be sited in around 860 square km of seabed space some 37 miles off Aberdeen.
Fixed-bottom turbines will be used at the site, which lies in around 65-75m of water.
Kent’s pre-FEED studies are expected to last six months and will involve engineering design work to support decisions on foundation type, corrosion protection concepts as well as transportation and installation options.
The firm will also draw on Ternan Energy to provide specialist geotechnical services to supplement Kent’s existing in-house capabilities.
Kent’s has already fed into a series of offshore wind projects in the North Sea, working on around 70% of all UK offshore sites, including handling design on the deep water jacket substructures for the SSE-led Beatrice wind farm.
Kent offshore wind market director Cerianne Cummings said: “We are delighted to be awarded this project which adds to our portfolio of offshore wind projects in the North Sea. We look forward to working with our partners bp and EnBW on this exciting venture.”
RPS Group has already been chosen to work on environmental assessments for the Morven site, while BP has promised further investments in infrastructure, ports, harbours and shipyards, including the construction of four Scottish-built support vessels and a new operations and maintenance base in Aberdeen.
Meanwhile it also plans to build the ‘Morgan’ and ‘Mona’ windfarms with partner EnBW, within a 3GW area in the Irish Sea.
And while he wouldn’t be drawn on any specific auctions or targets for the future, BP’s vice president for UK offshore wind Richard Sandford confirmed the supermajor has been “looking at the upcoming opportunities in the UK.”
