Fugro mobilizing for North Sea Norfolk Boreas wind farm site investigations

July 29, 2022
Vattenfall has contracted Fugro to perform marine site investigations for the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm off the English east coast.

Offshore staff

LEIDSCHENDAM, the Netherlands  Vattenfall has contracted Fugro to perform marine site investigations for the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm off the English east coast.

The 1.4-GW wind farm is part of Vattenfall’s Norfolk Zone in the southern UK North Sea. The new award follows a four-month marine site characterization campaign in 2020.

Starting next month, Fugro will mobilize multiple geophysical and geotechnical vessels from local ports to conduct full coverage surveys across the wind farm, inter-array cables and export cable routes

Equipment deployed will include Fugro’s SEACALF Mk V DeepDrive system for seabed cone penetration tests (CPTs) and its Blue Snake geotechnical system, which integrates CPT and sampling technology to assist data acquisition along the cable route.

During the project’s first phase of the project, following geophysical and unexploded ordnance surveys, a 2D ultra high-resolution seismic survey will provide detailed seabed and shallow subsurface information.

Compiled geo-data will serve to support positioning of the inter-array cables, enhance the safety of future operations, facilitate route planning and improve project design.

Once the fieldwork has finished, Fugro’s laboratories in Wallingford and Consett, UK, will undertake testing programs, with support from the newly certified and accredited laboratory in Belgium.

Results from the investigations will feed into the ground model for the Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas wind farms to optimize foundation and cable design.

07.29.2022