How Fred. Olsen Seawind significantly streamlines their EIA reporting process with Vind AI
Fred. Olsen Seawind and Vind AI
Fred. Olsen Seawind, an established and dedicated offshore wind developer building on 25 years of wind development experience and expertise, was one of the first companies to join Vind AI’s Expert Panel. In their ongoing projects across Europe, the company continuously strives to implement cutting-edge technologies to enhance its project planning and execution.
“One of the best things with Vind AI is the user friendliness of the tool. Intuitive visualisations allow you to easily describe the details in your offshore wind project and enhance the features in focus. As
Miles McConville, Consent Manager at Fred. Olsen Seawind
the platform is continuously evolving, we frequently encounter new and valuable functionalities, and quickly grasp how and when to use the latest features.”
Today, the company integrates Vind AI in several aspects of early phase development, including site assessment, competitor analysis, park layout design, cable routing and documentation processes.
“Vind AI has enabled us to make better-informed decisions that align with our sustainability goals. Improving our confidence in decision-making, the platform ensures that every aspect of our projects, from environmental impact to technical feasibility, is thoroughly vetted before we move forward.”
Gillies Munro, Project Development Manager at Fred. Olsen Seawind
From time-consuming to efficient EIA documentation on Muir Mhòr Offshore Wind Farm
Having been awarded seabed rights for Muir Mhòr Offshore Wind Farm in the ScotWind auction in January 2022, the 50:50 joint venture Project is moving at pace to submit the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report by the end of 2024. The floating wind Project is contributing to achieving the UK’s target of 5GW floating wind by 2030. To date the Project has conducted key surveys both onshore and offshore. Link to Muir Mhòr Website here.
Traditionally, the EIA process has been a time-consuming and complex task, involving handling printed maps, paper logs and manually updating documents. With Vind AI, this process has changed dramatically. The platform allows the Fred. Olsen Seawind Team to work collaboratively in real-time and streamline their work, enabling efficient documentation and comparison of various site layouts, boundaries, cable corridors, and potential landfall points. One of the key benefits is the tool’s ability to track and communicate site evolution, and easily visualize various aspects:
“Vind AI significantly improves our EIA documentation processes. The platform’s ability to quickly compare different scenarios and visualize project evolution allows us to easily show how we have taken technical constraints impacting the park layout into account in our layout proposal.”
Miles McConville, Consent Manager at Fred. Olsen Seawind
Key benefits for Fred. Olsen Seawind across their Project’s Development
- Comprehensive analysis: The Vind AI platform offers a comprehensive overview of each site, combining integrated environmental data layers with advanced technical design tools. This gives Fred. Olsen Seawind visibility of their projects’ potential impacts and ensures that the company is able to evaluate critical factors simultaneously. By comparing various layouts against each other in seconds, Fred. Olsen Seawind now evaluates considerably more layout and cable routing options than before.
“Vind AI gives us confidence that we’ve considered possible alternatives thoroughly before moving forward.”
Massimo Caporaso, Project Development Manager (Offshore) at Fred. Olsen Renewables Italy
- Version control: The ability to easily revisit previous versions of their projects gives them a comprehensive and easily accessible view of their Project’s evolution. This enables the Fred. Olsen Seawind Team to continuously track changes and assess the impact of different decisions.
- Project collaboration and instant access to information: The intuitive user interface and easy access to data and information in Vind AI facilitates smooth collaboration both in Fred. Olsen Seawind’s internal teams, as well as in their collaboration with external stakeholders. With all information accessible in one place and instant access to updated information, the company has significantly improved its ability to share data and designs, facilitating a more integrated and effective decision-making process.
“With Vind AI, we are certain that we are always looking at the newest version of a Project, and we can easily revisit different Project versions, track changes and analyse the impact of our decisions to understand how and why we have arrived at the current version”
Gillies Munro, Project Developer Manager at Fred. Olsen Seawind