Fugro has secured two geotechnical site investigation contracts with Danish grid operator Energinet. The company will perform the preliminary geotechnical site investigation for the proposed world’s first Energy Island in Denmark and the adjacent offshore wind farm zone.
The purpose-built artificial island will be situated 80 km offshore in the North Sea and act as a hub connecting hundreds of surrounding wind turbines. The first construction phase for the project includes the artificial island of the energy hub and wind turbines with a total of 3 GW of power. This phase is to be completed in 2030. In phases, extensions are possible to 10 GW capacity.
The fieldwork will run from February to May 2022 and up to four dedicated geotechnical vessels will work on the project. These operations will include the use of Fugro’s SEACALF® Mk V Deepdrive system for seabed cone penetration tests (CPTs), as well as the WISON® Mk V Ecodrive for the downhole testing.
Following the fieldwork, an extensive laboratory testing programme will be delivered by various laboratories, including Fugro’s newly certified and accredited laboratory in Belgium.
The resulting Geo-data will be used to prepare an integrated geological and geotechnical soil model on which wind farm developers will base future tenders.
Commenting on the award Jens Kenneth Larsen, Project Manager for Energinet’s site investigations on the future Energy Islands, said: “Energinet is pleased to see Fugro among the suppliers for the Energy Island site investigation project. Reliable geotechnical site investigations are very important for future tenders and therefore a very important part of the foundation when realising the Energy Island and surrounding offshore wind farms.”
Sven Plasman, Fugro’s Principal Commercial Manager, said: “We are proud to be involved in this European offshore wind megaproject. Fugro is uniquely positioned to provide the vessels, equipment, experienced engineers and geoconsultants required for successful geotechnical data acquisition, and our advanced laboratory testing will provide critical high-quality Geo-data that helps derisk the project’s future development phases and support Denmark’s energy transition.”
This Energy Island contract follows on from the geophysical and unexploded ordnance (UXO) magnetometry survey awarded to Fugro earlier this year and the floating wind lidar measurement campaign that started in October.
