Fugro Geos offshore wind farm contracts
Fugro Geos of Wallingford in the UK has been awarded a contract by Seagreen Wind Energy for oceanographic surveys of the zone designated for the Firth of Forth Round 3 offshore wind farm.
Approximately 22km off the east coast of Scotland, the zone has an estimated installed capacity which will almost double Scotland’s entire existing renewable energy availability.
The six month survey, which began last November, includes deployment of wave and current meters at various locations. They are expected to produce data for eventual wind farm engineering design as well as environmental impact assessment studies.
Oceanographic instrumentation includes surface deployed wave buoys and a combination of bed mounted acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) current meters and acoustic wave and current meters (AWACs).
The surveys additionally involve measurements of suspended sediments, with water and sediment samples collected at the time each instrument is deployed as well as during service visits and on recovery.
Fugro Geos is also carrying out similar studies for the Sheringham Shoal wind farm project off the Norfolk coast. Comprising 88 wind turbines and expected to generate enough annual electricity to power 220,000 homes, it is due to become operational later this year.
By David Goodfellow
