Dutch surveyor Fugro has won a geotechnical site investigation contract from BP and Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) for their new offshore wind farms, Morgan and Mona, located in the Irish Sea.
Fieldwork will run from May to September 2022, with the site located approximately 30 km off the coast of North Wales and North West England. Fugro will deploy its vessels, the Fugro Synergy and the Normand Mermaid, to complete the survey.
Fugro’s operations will include the use of the so-called SEACALF Mk V Deepdrive system for seabed cone penetration tests, as well as the SEADEVIL for vessel-based and seafloor downhole testing, which, according to the company, can reduce carbon emissions by up to 40% when compared to traditional inspection methods. Following the fieldwork, a laboratory testing programme will be delivered by Fugro’s in-house engineers.
“With this geo-data, BP and EnBW will be able to effectively guide the planning, design and installation of the Morgan and Mona wind farms – critical assets to achieving sustainability targets and delivering green electricity to the region,” said Dennis Koenen, Fugro’s global director for geo-data acquisition and marine site characterisation.
When completed, the projects, which mark BP’s entry into the UK’s offshore wind power sector, will have a combined generating capacity of 3 GW, sufficient to power the equivalent of 3.4m UK households with electricity.
