Normandeau and APEM Launch Joint Venture for US Market

Normandeau and APEM Launch Joint Venture for US Market

Europe’s leading provider of aerial surveys for the offshore wind industry, APEM, has joined forces with US environmental consultancy Normandeau as it targets growth in the emerging American market.

The joint venture will be officially unveiled at Offshore Wind 2012 in Virginia on October 9th, America’s largest offshore wind event.

It aims to bring the expertise in aerial bird and marine mammal surveys that APEM has developed for the European wind energy market to the growing US market. It will build on Normandeau’s established reputation in the US as a leading environmental consultancy.

APEM is Europe’s leading provider of aerial bird and marine mammal surveys for the offshore and onshore wind industry, operating a fleet of five modern survey aircraft equipped with state of the art digital image capture systems and proprietary software. The company was the first in the UK to purchase the ultra high resolution Leica RCD30 camera.

Since its first aerial bird and mammal survey for the wind industry in 2008, APEM has carried out over 200 surveys for a diverse range of clients, including the UK government and some of the world’s leading developers such as DONG Energy, Vatenfall, Scottish Power Renewables, Siemens and Smart Wind.

Using high resolution digital images the company is able to identify and count sea birds and mammals and assign accurate GPS coordinates to each of them. Bespoke software helps to accurately identify different species of birds and work out the height and direction of their flight.

Carrying out surveys from altitude means protected bird populations need not be disturbed by low flying aircraft.

Normandeau and APEM anticipate significant growth in the both the onshore and offshore wind sectors in the US in the next five to ten years. The American Wind Energy Association predicts a total capacity of 300 GW by 2030, with offshore wind accounting for around 55 GW of this.

The US and European wind power markets have developed very differently. While the US is world’s second largest producer of wind energy and has the world’s largest single windfarm, all its windfarms are land based and it currently has no offshore windfarms.

However, this is expected to change as offshore windfarms are developed off both the east and west coasts, close to centres of population. Developer Cape Wind has gained consent to build America’s first offshore windfarm off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

 APEM managing director Keith Hendry said: “Bringing the expertise our scientists and analysts have developed in the UK and Europe to the US market is an incredibly exciting step for us. The company has grown at around 50 per cent for the last two years helped by our successful aerial survey business, and we expect growth in the US to fuel further expansion.

 “Crucially, in Normandeau we’ve found an ideal partner. Our shared ethos and experience make the companies a perfect fit.”

[mappress]

Press release, October 03, 2012; Image: apem