Spatial Offshore Wind – Expressions of Interest

The Crown Estate is an independent commercial business, created by Act of Parliament to manage a portfolio of property, land & marine assets. Our portfolio is one of the largest in the UK and includes the whole of Regent Street and much of St James’s in London’s West End, regional shopping centres, Windsor Great Park, hundreds of thousands of acres of rural land and coastline, and the UK’s seabed.

We are seeking Expressions of Interest from suitably experienced and qualified suppliers wishing to bid for opportunities that we have within the Marine department for spatial offshore wind levelised cost of energy (LCOE) model, details of the two opportunities we have are below:

1) Electrical Sub-model

As part of an update to a spatial offshore wind levelised cost of energy (LCOE) model, The Crown Estate is seeking Electrical Engineering input in the form of an electrical reference database.

Part 1 of the scope will be to generate a database summarising the optimum export cable configuration and other technical outputs for hundreds of combinations of two key input variables (export route distance and wind farm capacity). The database shall be generated for both HVAC and HVDC systems.

Part 2 will be to provide a cost model which, in combination with the technical model and commercial rates (determined by the consultant) will be used to estimate total supply cost for a wind farm export cable, offshore platform(s) and onshore substation/converter.

The successful supplier will be able to implement an automated approach which is capable of generating a large number of optimised configurations and cost estimates while keeping resource requirements manageable. The supplier will also be required to show that their approach validates well against contemporary electrical designs and that inputs/outputs can be adjusted to take into account anticipated future design improvements.

2) Sub-Structure Sub-model

As part of an update to a spatial offshore wind levelised cost of energy (LCOE) model, TCE is seeking Structural and Geotechnical Engineering input in the form of a sub-structure reference database.

Part 1A of the scope will be to generate a database of estimated offshore wind turbine sub-structure mass values (i.e. primary steel, secondary steel etc.) for hundreds of combinations of 3 to 4 key input variables (e.g. turbine loading, wave height, soil stiffness and sea depth). The database shall be generated for multiple fixed and floating sub-structure types and will include a pre-screening step to exclude sub-structure types which are unviable for a given set of input parameters.

Part 1B will be to provide estimates of on-site installation time (not including transit) for various combinations of two to three key input variables (e.g. sediment type, bedrock type and sediment depth).

Part 2 will be to provide a cost model which, in combination with the outputs of Part 1A/1B and commercial rates (determined by the consultant) will be used to estimate total supply and installation cost.

The successful supplier will be able to implement an automated approach which is capable of generating a large number of estimated values while keeping resource requirements manageable. The supplier will also be required to show that their approach validates well against contemporary sub-structure designs and that values can be adjusted to take into account anticipated future design improvements.

Should you wish to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for either one or both of these opportunities, please clearly state this via email by referencing 1) Electrical Sub-model or/and 2) Sub-Structure Sub-model to email: MarineEngineeringTenders@thecrownestate.co.uk

Expressions of interest should be submitted by COB on Friday 24^th June 2022 at the latest.