JBA Consulting’s metocean planning and forecasting software, ForeCoast® Marine, has been employed during the first phase of offshore construction of the Rampion offshore wind farm, which ended earlier this month .
Following an initial foundation construction campaign between January and March 2016, which was heavily affected by adverse weather early on, and a planned suspension of works due to the black bream spawning season, the installation of the foundations recommenced in July . During this second campaign, JBA was commissioned to apply its ForeCoast® Marine software to help make strategic decisions with respect to weather and vessel strategies and to help forecast and monitor construction progress on a weekly basis.
The weekly projections were provided by the ForeCoast® Marine Gamer Mode module. Each week from July through to the end of the first construction phase in November, the model was run to re-project the installation schedule based on the progress made to date and known operational constraints.
This analysis allowed continuous monitoring of the progress and anticipate any programme slippages well in advance; thereby allowing mitigation strategies to be put in place, JBA said.
JBA is also appointed to support wind turbine installation work, which are scheduled to start in spring 2017.
The GBP 1.3 billion Rampion is being built 13km off the Sussex coast by E.ON, the UK Green Investment Bank plc and Canadian energy company Enbridge. The project is due to be completed and fully operational in 2018.