The first geotechnical seabed surveys for TotalEnergies and SSE Renewables’ 500MW Seagreen 1A offshore wind farm in Scotland have been completed.
The vessel that carried out site investigation works, the 90-metre long ‘Connector’, arrived on site and completed phase one works in a period of 10 days during February.
This involved specialist cone penetrometer testing at almost 100 locations.
Using dynamic positioning technology the vessel repeatedly held positions while thin rod sensors penetrated into the seabed at depths of up to 15 metres to allow the team to learn more about its composition and understand if the proposed turbine foundation sites are suitable and appropriate for the technology proposed.
Phase two of the geotechnical works is expected to commence later this year and should take around two weeks to complete. The second phase will involve Vibrocore works along the proposed export cable route from the offshore site to the landfall at Cockenzie.
The project’s second phase, known as Seagreen 1A, could see an additional 36 turbines installed off the Angus coast, added to the 114 already fully operational at the project, increasing its capacity to 1500MW.
Seagreen 1A project director Andrew Train said: “We are pleased to confirm the completion of another geotechnical offshore survey at the Seagreen 1A site. This builds on existing site data and is another step forward in the project following the unanimous support from East Lothian Council in the approval of the onshore substation design last year.
“The geotechnical works, using industry best practices, will enhance and broaden our understanding of the seabed conditions across the full project site. As always, we remain committed to continuing to build on community and supply chain links and relationships within the local and wider areas.
“Scotland and the UK have set ambitious renewable energy targets and Seagreen 1A has the potential to form a vital part of delivering on that ambition and will play a key role in the delivery of SSE’s Net Zero Acceleration Plus Programme.”