By Michelle Froese | September 29, 2016 A first of its kind, the multi-turbine platform uses clever design to maximize energy yield from offshore turbines located in deeper water. Atkins has been working with Swedish company, Hexicon, to bring the world’s first multi-turbine offshore wind floating platform concept closer to reality. The technical collaboration on this innovative project has been so successful, evolving throughout concept and FEED, that Atkins will now undertake the detailed design for the project. Atkins’ extensive experience in floating wind has played a key role in developing the concept through to detailed design. This experience has been developed through our involvement in more than half a dozen floating wind projects around the world drawing on the skills we have developed through the design of fixed offshore wind and offshore substation structures. “Our aim is for this project to show how a multi-turbine concept can help bring down the cost of offshore wind, enabling this form of renewable energy to be even more financially viable,” said Marcus Thor, project director for Hexicon. Atkins is one of the leading engineering companies in offshore renewables with a broad portfolio of work in the sector offering a complete and comprehensive service across the entire lifecycle of a project – from assistance during the consenting phases, through planning, and the full multi-disciplinary design and analysis of fixed foundations and floating structures. “Clearly this is fantastic news for Atkins but it is also good news for the UK as it goes a little way to help plug the gap in development that we’re seeing due to the delay in the next Contracts for Difference allocation round until December 2016 at the earliest,” said Chris Cowland, Atkins’ Project Director for offshore assets.
Atkins Group, the Swedish multinational engineering company, is to begin the detailed design of the world's first floating multi-turbine offshore platform, following a successful technical collaboration with British firm Hexicon in the initial phase. As one of the leading engineering companies in offshore renewables with extensive experience in floating wind structures, Atkins is aiming to demonstrate how renewable energy can be even more financially viable by bringing down the costs of offshore wind with the multi-turbine concept.