Offshore wind energy

Offshore wind farms have recently become an appealing form of sustainable energy, encouraged by governments worldwide and related to global climate change. Pilot wind farms across Northern Europe have proven to be successful and provided expert knowledge on the design and installation of turbines and wind farm monitoring. Future generation wind farms face new challenges, such as deep-water foundations, installation in severe environments, and mitigating large-scale and long-term impacts on the environment.

Deltares’ hydraulic, geotechnical and ecological expertise in marine environments supports offshore engineers in the development, safe operation and monitoring of offshore wind farms. Our specialized consultancy and integrated studies focus on:

• Operational and extreme metocean design conditions
• Modelling of wave forces and wave run-up
• Scour prediction, scour protection and morphological changes
• Geotechnical studies for foundation design
• Cable trenching, burial and risk assessment
• Spatial planning and environmental legislation and
• Environmental impact assessments
• Geophysical surveys and interpretation of the sub-surface