Boskalis reported that it has successfully completed an unexploded ordnance (UXO) survey in the Polish section of the Baltic Sea. The survey was performed in preparation of the future offshore wind farm Baltic Power.
Many thousands of bombs, mines and other munitions were deployed in the North Sea or Baltic Sea, especially during World War II, which did not explode. Now, some 80 years later, these old explosives pose a threat in the development of offshore wind farms. Therefor, prior to the installation of an offshore wind farm a UXO survey must almost always be conducted.
Kamara, a dedicated vessel to trace potential UXO, was used for this project. In recent months the vessel has been active in the Polish section of the Baltic Sea, where she was tasked with locating and thoroughly investigating 160 targets in order to eliminate the risk of an explosion during the construction of the future offshore wind farm Baltic Power. In the end, not only the requested 160 targets were surveyed by, but even more than 300 potential explosive objects.
With the UXO survey successfully completed, the Kamara will also carry out the next preparatory activities for the construction of the offshore wind farm by removing boulders in order to clear the way for the installation of the future wind farm’s (export) cables.
The 1.2 GW Baltic Power offshore wind farm, developed by ORLEN S.A. and Northland Power Inc., is the most advanced offshore wind project in Poland and will be able to cover 3 percent of the national demand for electricity and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.8 million tons. Source & images: Boskalis
