Recently awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) under the UK Round 4 Allocation, ICOL is a joint venture between Red Rock Power Limited and Irish energy company ESB. Located 15km off the Angus coast, the project will be Scotland’s largest single source of renewable power when built, with the capacity to generate the equivalent annual power needs of more than 1.7m homes.

K2M’s appointment as LTA enables the company to bring its 15 years of experience in the offshore wind sector to support ICOL during project financing. K2M is providing technical due diligence on all aspects of the project design, delivery, and operations, as well as providing a bank launch and financial close report for lenders. K2M’s involvement ensures that, despite the project’s scale and complexity, ICOL will be able to move forward with a business case to secure financial close.

The partnership between ICOL and K2M follows on from an earlier 12-month collaboration under which K2M provided an initial view on project bankability, design optimisation and early-stage risk mitigation.

Commenting on the agreement, Bethany Rowson, senior consultant at K2M, said: “Working alongside Inch Cape Offshore Limited as a strategic partner allows us to support the development of a significant addition to the offshore wind pipeline in Scotland.

“With ever more sizeable projects in more extreme environments, both long-standing and emergent offshore wind developers and investors need – more than ever before – total clarity on the financial and development challenges that projects of this scale entail. With our long heritage and global track record, we’re able to leverage our experience in early-stage offshore wind development to provide utilities, IPPs, lenders and investors with the full picture on the preliminary risk management required to keep projects moving through the development cycle.”

Seán Kirwan, project manager at ICOL, added: “The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm will make a significant contribution to the UK’s offshore wind and wider decarbonisation targets. We look forward to continuing our work with K2M as we seek to bring the project successfully to financial close - and through to safe and successful delivery.”