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An important U.S. project with SouthCoast Wind brought together two groups with a common goal. °ÄÃÅÐþ»úͼ Protected Species Observers had the chance to work with local tribal communities, who are passionate about protecting the environment. The program widened access to entry into the PSO role, while engaging with local stakeholders.

Marine studies are often done to support individual developments. But that means every project is essentially starting from scratch and may repeat work already undertaken by an adjacent developer. Smarter resourcing through working together would yield a better outcome.

Working with one of Korea's top-tier universities - Seoul National University (with their Marine Environmental Impact Statement Institute) - allows us to exchange insights and support those who are shaping the offshore wind industry in this new market. It also enables us to support developers by gaining a better understanding of decision-makers' expectations.

TIDE is a major funding initiative of the Australian Research Council (ARC), and hosted at The University of Western Australia (UWA). °ÄÃÅÐþ»úͼ is one of several industry partners for the initiative, which plans to develop new science and technology through digital engineering. Its aims are to inform the development of marine renewables and optimise the operation of existing and future offshore energy infrastructure. Read more here.

Photo: °ÄÃÅÐþ»úͼ' John Tompson, Murray Burling and Roger Edgecombe at the official TIDE Research Hub launch, November 2022.

Press play on the video, featuring Murray Burling, to learn more about TIDE.
(Video courtesy of UWA)

Despite the size and skillsets of our in-house teams, we looked externally for additional expertise to ensure we offered our client the best possible scientific and technological methodologies. We partnered with several universities, benefitting from their specialist research skills and local experience via the foremost experts in their disciplines. As baseline data on species likely to be impacted by offshore wind development is extremely limited in Australia, any prior research is critical.

Regulators and stakeholders need to feel confident in the assessments their consultants make, especially in a new market like Korea where there are some known challenges.

Find out what we looked for in a Korean consultancy partner, and how SEKWANG Engineering Consultants brought the right balance of marine infrastructure expertise, local knowledge and experience, and approach.

Understanding bird behaviour and collision risk around turbines – and informing that with empirical data – has been a big question for offshore wind. Being able to answer this with real data is a huge step forward.

Learn how we worked with DHI Group to put cutting-edge camera and radar systems onto turbines to gather these data, bringing together our impact assessment expertise and DHI’s technology to improve one of the industry’s biggest consenting/permitting challenges.

In Australia, the new offshore wind industry is starting to ramp up. This article from our Australian team looks at the power of learning from other regions such as the UK (and building on the experience of other °ÄÃÅÐþ»úͼ teams) to set the standard for offshore wind development in Australia.