COWI

Want to take a walk or ride your bike on an award-winning bridge and experience beautiful greenery high above a railway? Then visit Vejle in Denmark where you will find the stunning Grejsdalsbroen, which crosses the Grejs Creek and a railway. Meandering in a soft S-shape across the valley, the bridge adds an aesthetic dimension to the surroundings and ensures a pleasant and inspiring passage whether by foot or on bicycle. The bridge’s structure and location were chosen to offer the local community a safe and accessible connection between the most optimal points in the landscape. We are delighted that the bridge, designed for Vejle Kommune by COWI/Arkitema, has won the hearts of both architectural experts and the local community. This Monday, on World Architecture Day, the bridge won Two prizes, both ‘Vejleprisen’, based on an expert panel, and ‘Borgernes Arkitekturpris’, based on public votes. The project is a great example of how engineering and architecture can reinforce each other when joining forces from a very early stage. Photos: Christian Søes and Erik Balle

The mission has been compared to a 'mission to Mars' for Denmark's energy sector, but have you ever wondered what role energy islands play in the green transition?🍃 Maybe you have, or maybe you have never given it a single thought, but either way, now is your chance to get to know more about the topic. Earlier this week, we hosted our second webinar, Morning Fuel, which delved into the pivotal and transformative role of energy islands in the Danish and European green transition. Together with Ørsted, Energinet, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, we discussed various topics, including: • The decision to postpone the construction of the North Sea Energy Island. • The potential of converting electricity generated from offshore wind into hydrogen. • The necessary infrastructure for success. • Emerging challenges and opportunities in future tender mechanisms for offshore wind. If you missed our webinar, we’ve got you covered. Watch or rewatch the recording here 👇 https://lnkd.in/efhxRhkX

700,000 Bathtubs of Wastewater! Once you flush your toilet, this is where it ends up. Most people are surprised to find that the Käppalaverket wastewater facility, located deep inside the mountain, is almost odorless when you visit it.  The plant is one of Sweden's largest, treating wastewater from over 500,000 people in the Stockholm area. As Stockholm's growth continued, the 1969 plant was upgraded to a 2.0 facility in the 1990s. COWI is now working on a 3.0 upgrade to serve 700,000 people and reduce nitrogen emissions by 40%, phosphorus by 33% and organic matter by 25%. The wastewater is treated in large chambers blasted into the rock. In the pictures you can see an empty chamber where maintenance is done and other chambers filled with wastewater. ✅ Capacity: 50 million cubic meters of wastewater a year, or about 700,000 bathtubs per day from 11 municipalities. ✅How it’s done: The wastewater is treated for about 1.5 days with a mix of mechanical, biological, and chemical treatments before being returned to mother nature at a depth of 45 meters in the Baltic sea outside the island of Lidingö. ✅ Project scope: The project includes construction, geotechnics, groundwork, water and sewage, and traffic planning. ✅ Customer: Käppalaförbundet

What did we learn at New York Climate week? 💡 New York Climate Week, one of the world’s most important climate conferences, concluded last week, providing valuable insights into the future of renewable energy. COWI hosted a series of event – and here are our key takeaways from the week. “There is a positive outlook for offshore wind. Steel prices have decreased by over 40% since the 2022 peak. Lower interest rates and an improved supply chain also make investing in offshore wind projects more favourable, so the general sentiment is optimistic,” says Jan Behrendt Ibsø, Group Senior Vice President, Renewables and PtX at COWI “Multiple new offshore wind farms are being installed or under construction in the US. We also witness new tenders and faster awarding times for tenders which signal an upturn in the offshore wind market, overcoming the slumps of recent years. But the collaboration across US states regarding offshore wind could be improved.” Read more about the key takeaways from the conference and the global market outlook for offshore wind, green fuels, and much more right here 👉https://lnkd.in/dAYMXZTf

Good infrastructure can highly influence where people choose to live, work – and thrive. And with people and jobs moving to the cities, there are many challenges to take on 🚉 🚗 🚇 That is why we are extremely pleased to welcome aboard Carsten Heine Lund as our new Senior Vice President for Transportation in Denmark. Carsten comes with great experience from leading positions in the consulting engineering industry and the public sector. “There is a really exciting professional task in finding collective solutions and developing an infrastructure that can improve mobility across rural and urban areas”, Carsten says. In particular, he hopes to be able to contribute to solutions to mobility challenges in relation to congestion and the green transition 🔋

Delve into the transformative role of energy islands in the Danish and European green transition. Join an insightful webinar on the topic on 7 October 7 at 8:30 AM 💡 Together with experts from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), Ørsted, Energinet, we will discuss how offshore wind and hydrogen integration can transform our energy systems, while we also will discuss some of the challenges we still need to overcome in order to realize the potential. Register here 👇 https://lnkd.in/dcvWPhUz

With the iconic New York City skyline as a backdrop, we had the pleasure to host a series of leading energy companies, international experts, policy makers, and various stakeholders at a series of events at the annual Climate Week and Sustainability Summit in New York City. COWI and Equinor co-hosted a panel discussion in a packed conference hall at Hudson Yards. Here, we discussed the valuable lessons learned from the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project in New York Bay. Empire Wind 1 will generate clean, renewable, and affordable energy for over 400,000 homes and businesses across New York State, while reducing carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year. The lessons from Empire Wind hold global relevance, so we took a dive into how they can be applied to other projects worldwide. Thanks to panelists Scott Lundin, Amisha Patel, Tone Søndergaard, and Jan Behrendt Ibsø. Additionally, we had the privilege of hosting an insightful roundtable on scaling sustainable fuels and offshore wind in the US with the participation of leading companies, state institutions, investors, and industry experts. "Taking an active part in Climate Week and the Sustainability Summit for the third time forms part of our commitment to sustainability, renewables, and climate change," says Jan Behrendt Ibsø, Group Senior Vice President, Renewables and PtX at COWI Luckily, there was also a chance to socialise and share a drink with our clients, partners, and other stakeholders. We would like to express our gratitude to our co-hosts energyRe and Denmark In New York (The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for their excellent cooperation. And thank you to everyone who joined us at our events. We are grateful for your participation, and we look forward to continued collaborations and exciting developments in the future!

Equipping the next generation of professionals with the essential skills and knowledge to drive the future of sustainable energy 🌍📕📙📚 We are proud to announce a new partnership with The Renewable Construction Academy (RECOA). COWI will collaborate with RECOA to co-develop a cutting-edge educational programme focused on offshore wind energy, direct electrification, and green fuel production. The aim is to equip a cohort of renewable energy professionals with the skills needed to drive the energy transition in the years to come. RECOA’s stated mission is to provide industry-relevant education to increase the efficiency and build-out of renewable energy projects globally – all to help the world grow in a more sustainable direction. This couldn’t be a better match for us. The partnership has already kicked off with developing the first courses in offshore geosciences, starting with “Site & Survey Data Fundamentals”. "We are thrilled to welcome COWI as an Academy Partner, joining forces to shape the future of renewable energy education. This partnership embodies our shared commitment to accelerating the global green transition, starting with developing the Geoscience course series, which will equip renewable professionals—across the organisations—with critical offshore geoscience knowledge and applicable skillsets. By combining COWI's decades of innovative expertise with RECOA's educational framework, global reach and dedication to practical and impactful learning, we are paving the way for the next generation of professionals in sustainable energy," says Martin Schnoor Warming, Founder and Managing Partner, the Renewable Construction Academy.

Gothenburg's underground giant! Join us for a quick tour of The Westlink's impressive fan station and columns at Korsvägen station. The Westlink consists of eight kilometers of rail, more than six kilometers of which are in tunnels beneath the center of Gothenburg, Sweden. The purpose of the West Link is to enable more people to commute and work in different places in the Gothenburg region. The project will make it possible to travel by train to several stations in Gothenburg instead of just one. The pictures show the huge fan station blasted out at Korsvägen station. The fan station is 55 meters long, 26 meters wide and 28 meters high. The fan station will be equipped with ventilation equipment that will supply the station and tunnels with air. The concrete columns shown in the picture were designed by COWI as a unique solution to replace rock columns in hard rock conditions. The use of concrete columns to support rock vaults is unusual in itself, but to do so in the hard type of rock found at Korsvägen in Gothenburg makes the solution unique. The columns will eventually be loaded with rock from the massive tunnel roof. The weight of the raw rock mass is expected to reach up to approximately 20,000 tons per column (and with other loads and safety factors considered, up to nearly 35,000 tons). Facts about the West Link Project: 🚈 Eight kilometers of double track, including a six-kilometer rail tunnel, under the city of Gothenburg 🚈 Three underground stations 💰 Estimated cost of €3.3 billion 📅  Expected to open in 2030 👨💻 Client: West Link Contractors (NCC and German company Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG Photo cred: Jonas Zachrisson

Green cities make people thrive - but what actually works? 🌲🏡🌲   In recent decades, cities around the world have responded to some of the biggest urban challenges of our time by implementing various green solutions. Trees and parks are used to counteract problems related to overheating and so-called heat islands. Trees and shrubs are used to absorb the CO₂ of cities and reduce noise and air pollution. Greening of roadsides, walls and roofs is used to counteract the biodiversity crisis by creating habitats for different animal species. And urban spaces are made greener and more inviting to create vibrant cities for people with a greater quality of life and health. Therefore, it is crucial right now to ask the question: Which of the green city's measures have a real effect? And what instruments? And what effects? Meet COWI's Stine Ilum and learn more in this video 👇