Wind Energy – Site Investigation
Fugro has been awarded a new marine site investigation contract by Vattenfall for their Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm located off England’s east coast.
The 1.4 GW wind farm forms part of Vattenfall’s Norfolk Zone and will generate enough clean energy to power 1.5 million UK homes while offsetting 2.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year. This investigation follows on from a four-month marine site characterisation campaign in 2020.
From August 2022, Fugro will mobilise multiple geophysical and geotechnical vessels from local ports to complete full coverage surveys across the Norfolk Boreas wind farm, inter-array cables and export cable routes.
In the first phase of the project, geophysical surveys and unexploded ordnance (UXO) surveys will be completed followed by a 2D ultra high-resolution seismic (UHRS) survey to provide detailed seabed and shallow sub-surface information.
The collected Geo-data will not only support the positioning of the inter-array cables, but also enhance the safety of future operations, facilitate route planning and improve project design.
Following the fieldwork, an extensive laboratory testing programme will be delivered by Fugro’s UK laboratories in Wallingford and Consett with support from their newly certified and accredited laboratory in Belgium.
The resulting Geo-data from Fugro’s investigations will feed into the ground model for the Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas wind farms to optimise foundation and cable design. Fugro is also supporting Vattenfall on several other projects across Europe.
