Opportunity
Offshore wind energy project developer, Fishermen's Energy, was founded by New Jersey commercial fishermen with a vision to turn Atlantic coastal waters into a source of clean renewable energy.
A two-phase proposal was submitted to develop a small 25MW demonstration offshore wind project in State Waters, followed by a larger, commercial-scale 350MW offshore project in Federal Waters, both off the coast of New Jersey.
Solution
We have been helping Fishermen's Energy with the development of the 25MW pilot project by providing ongoing multidisciplinary owner's engineering services. We have helped to develop and deliver a significant number of administrative, engineering and management solutions, starting with a bespoke Project Management Plan to set out the framework and structure of management, processes and controls. Our support has helped to de-risk the project while providing time and cost savings in three main areas:
- Foundation jacket design – we identified flaws in the original foundation and offered a better solution
- Geotechnical – our analysis allowed the use of less material in the foundation, and
- Grid network – our power systems analysts helped to resolve grid network compliance issues.
Outcome
According to Fishermen’s Energy, implementation of the project is expected to create about 500 direct jobs and to bring over US$150m of investment into New Jersey over the lifetime of the project, all at a cost of less than a dollar a year for an average electric customer.
