Energy industry engineering services firm Apollo has won a pre-FEED contract with Celtic Sea Power for the 400MW Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone Multi-connection Offshore Substation (PDZ MOS) and 2x 1GW MOS’s targeting The Crown Estate Refined Area of Search (RAoS) A.
Pembrokeshire is a county in the southwest of Wales. Located 19 km off the Pembrokeshire coast, the PDZ MOS project is designed to allow offshore renewable energy technology developers easy access to a consented test site complete with a grid connection to prove their technology in the offshore environment.
Partly funded through the European Regional Development Fund, the project also aims to stimulate further investment in the region for the floating offshore wind (FLOW) market.
Additionally, the 2x 1GW MOS’s being developed for the RAoS A will demonstrate what a coordinated grid connection could look like for the commercial developments in the Celtic Sea, Apollo said.
"This award builds on a successful collaboration between Apollo and Celtic Sea Power in the concept phase to help define the offshore design envelope and onshore connections of the assets. It is hoped that the outputs of this study will provide confidence around a phased and coordinated FLOW development in the Celtic Sea. Through increasing efficiency and reducing development cost, the cost of energy will be lower for the UK consumer, whilst also delivering environmental and societal benefits. The Crown Estate bidding round to release 4GW of FLOW commences this August with an ambition to realize a further 20GW in the future," Apollo said.
Nigel Jones, Technical Manager at Celtic Sea Power said, “This pre-FEED activity will further refine what good looks like for a coordinated approach to bringing up to 2.4GW of power into the electricity transmission system in south Wales.
"Apollo’s work will focus on deliverable designs that align with the aspirations for offshore coordination in the UK, underpinning Wales’s policy ambition for a stronger, greener, better Wales. Celtic Sea Power are pioneering work on coordinated enabling infrastructure to maximize the potential of the Celtic Sea, and we are delighted to have Apollo as our consultancy partner once again.”