Fugro has completed a contract for the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) to perform a geotechnical site investigation at the IJmuiden Ver Noord 5 and 6 offshore wind farm sites.
The company worked from a third-party vessel and deployed its new Blue Snake geotechnical system to conduct 25 co-located cone penetration tests (CPT), thermal cone penetration tests (T-CPT) and high performance corer tests.
Blue Snake integrates CPT and sampling technology, aiming to achieve enhanced data quality, safety and efficiency.
The tests are taken consecutively, at a fixed distance, enabling high-quality data acquisition and improved data correlation, Fugro said.
RVO consultant offshore wind energy Michel Vrolijk said: “Supporting our partners to innovate is one of the ways to jointly improve our site characterisations for offshore wind.
“With the 21GW planned on the Netherlands’ Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap 2030/31, offshore site investigations need to speed up as well.
“Therefore, RVO is pleased with the implementation of Fugro’s Blue Snake, because of the ability to perform a vibrocore in combination with a CPT in a single deployment.
“The short fixed distance between the CPT and vibrocore will also allow for better correlation between data, this could improve data interpretation.”
Fugro principal commercial manager Sven Plasman said: “Having the support and commitment from a client such as RVO is highly appreciated.
“Their willingness to trial our new innovative equipment, resulted in the successful delivery of Geo-data in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
“We look forward to its continued success with the Blue Snake™ earmarked for projects throughout Europe.”