Fugro has been given an offshore survey contract by Community Offshore Wind, a partnership between RWE Renewables and National Grid, to support site evaluation and concept design efforts in the New York Bight.
Survey work outlining the geophysical and environmental parameters within the 510 km2 lease area will start this year and be mostly completed in 2023. Community Offshore Wind will benefit from this expedited project timetable by lowering the levelized cost of electricity and realizing the site’s potential for offshore wind, which has an estimated capacity of 3 GW, enough to power 1.1 million US homes.
Fugro is allocating two vessels to the project and operating out of a nearby port. To generate full-coverage surface and subsurface geodata over the lease area to a nominal depth of 15 m below the seafloor, survey crews will use hull-mounted sensors. Fugro’s survey approach will allow Community Offshore Wind to start a geotechnical program earlier than typical development timetables, even though deeper subsurface Geo-data will still be needed in specific regions for foundation engineering. Fugro’s regional center of excellence for offshore wind in Norfolk, Virginia, will provide survey geodata and consulting services for the project.
Image source: Fugro
