RWE appoints Fugro to start geophysical survey for Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm
Fugro has commenced a detailed pre-construction survey – including locating potential unexploded ordnance. Survey results to help define the final cable routes and turbine locations.
RWE has commenced a geophysical survey off the Danish west coast. Up to three survey vessels will be deployed to carry out a detailed pre-construction survey including a search for unexploded ordnance (UXO) approximately 34 kilometres off the coast of Thorsminde.
The data acquired is important and will define the cable routes and exact turbine locations for RWE’s Thor offshore wind farm. To complete this work RWE has appointed Fugro, a global leading Geo-data specialist, which already conducted a comprehensive geotechnical site investigation for Thor in 2022.
Günther Fenle, Project Director Thor Offshore Wind Farm, RWE Offshore Wind:
“We are looking forward to using the data collected by Fugro to finalise the layout of the wind farm and to determine the routes for the inter-array and export cables. This is an important step towards the start of the construction works at sea in 2025.”
Marc Kebbel, Fugro’s Service Line Director of Hydrography and Cable Route Surveys:
“We are using a wide range of survey techniques, comprising offshore and nearshore standard geophysical and UXO surveys techniques, a seismic land refraction survey, and last but not least, Fugro’s rapid airborne multibeam mapping system (RAMMS) for comprehensive mapping of the shallow area and beach in the transition zone.”
The UXO campaign for RWE’s Thor offshore wind farm will run until December 2023.
“The metocean challenges posed by Thor's exposed offshore location, such as high waves and strong wind in autumn and winter are adding to the complexity. Our ongoing collaboration with RWE reinforces our position as a trusted partner in the development of clean energy solutions”, added Marc Kebbel.
With a planned capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW) Thor will be Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm to date. Once fully operational, which is planned to be no later than 2027, Thor would be capable of producing enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of more than one million Danish households.
