A fleet of four survey vessels will undertake the latest tranche of offshore site investigations for the Sofia offshore windfarm in the North Sea as part of preparations for construction of the 1.41-GW project
Sofia, the largest project in innogy’s development portfolio and one of the world’s biggest offshore windfarms, is due to start construction onshore in early 2021 and offshore in 2023.
Two vessels – the multipurpose vessel Despina and survey vessel Fugro Scout – will complete site investigation work on the 593-km2 windfarm site on Dogger Bank, in the North Sea. Together they will carry out geotechnical surveys on the site itself, following on from those undertaken earlier this year.
Information gathered will be used to fine tune the design of the windfarm array and determine the locations for installing the turbines, array cables and the offshore converter platform.
Two vessels – the coastal survey vessels Fugro Seeker and Fugro Mercator – will work close to shore as they carry out geophysical surveys along the nearshore export cable corridor just off the coast of Redcar, Teesside.
Building on the results of the already completed export cable route surveys undertaken earlier by Fugro Pioneer and Despina, they will collect data that will inform both the design of the export cable and the installation methodology.
The four vessels are expected to complete their work by July, weather permitting, and a local guard vessel will support the activity throughout.
Final site investigation work is due to start in July with a jack-up barge used to carry out nearshore borehole surveys along the export cable route at the landfall between Redcar and Marske-by-the-Sea.
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