In the face of increased demand for offshore wind energy — including the UK Government’s recently announced am-
bition to deliver 30% of the country’s electricity from this renewable source by 2030 — Shoreham-based Ricardo is creating a dedicated team to handle the growing demand for its consultancy expertise, including the provision of advanced technologies and innovations developed by the company.

The new team represents a significant expansion of Ricardo’s activity in offshore wind consulting. The offshore environment brings significant opportunities in terms of the reliability and strength of prevailing winds and — freed from the constraints of land-based transportation and installation — the size of turbines that can be used.

At the same time, the challenges of maintaining and operating wind turbines in the marine environment are considerably greater than onshore, meaning that operation and maintenance costs are considerably higher.

Jonathan Wheals, Ricardo Innovations chief engineer (www.ricardo.com), said: “Having invested in the development of a portfolio of technologies that have the potential to transform the economics of offshore wind energy projects and proven these both in the laboratory and in test installations in operating wind farms, it is exciting that we are now bringing these to the benefit of commercial projects.”