Large Diameter Drilling (LDD), an Acteon company, has won the Regen SW 2011 South West Green Energy Award for Best Business Innovation.
The award acknowledges the best new product, process or service. The judging criteria included a requirement for exceptional innovation with the potential to positively affect the growth of renewables or energy efficiency.
“This is a fantastic achievement recognising our innovative design of the LD5000 for a two-year monopile relief drilling contract for the RWE npower Gwynt y Môr wind farm development,” said Jason Clark, managing director, LDD.
The LD5000 is believed to be the world’s largest and most-powerful reverse-circulation pile-top drill and was specially designed to drill wind turbine foundations for the 160-turbine project off the Welsh coast. For this project, the bottomhole assembly is configured to drill a standard 4.3-m-diameter rock socket, which can be increased up to 6 m in diameter by engaging the drill bit underreamers, which represent what are believed to be the world’s largest expanding underreamer. At its maximum capacity, the LD5000 can drill a hole up to 7 m in diameter.
Head judge of the category, Nick Ames, Supacat (a designer and manufacturer of high-mobility, all-terrain vehicles), said, “We were impressed by the high-end engineering and design skills in the drilling rig, and the scalability and export potential of the technology and commend the success of a small and young company in winning a major contract.
“The judges commented this was exactly the UK technology innovation and successful commercial application that we need in order to generate economic benefits and jobs from major investment the UK is making in offshore wind”.
Regen SW is a leading centre of sustainable energy expertise and pioneering project delivery in the UK. The Best Business Innovation Award was sponsored by The Crown Estate, which is a commercial organisation tasked by the UK Parliament with enhancing the value of the £7 billion property portfolio it manages and generating a profit for the benefit of the Nation. It is governed by an Act of Parliament. The property it manages is owned by the Crown.
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Offshore WIND staff, November 25, 2011; Image: lddrill