Fugro has won contracts by Ørsted to undertake geotechnical investigations at Bay State Wind and Ocean Wind offshore wind farms in the United States.
Fugro will perform the marine site characterization at both sites, including specialized sampling and in situ testing, from its DP2 geotechnical drillship Fugro Explorer.
The company will conduct laboratory testing and reporting services from Norfolk, Virginia, and Houston, Texas, in the US, as well as Wallingford, UK, and Nootdorp, the Netherlands, with the objective of providing fully integrated deliverables, Fugro said.
The site investigations, started at the end of November, are expected to continue for three months, while the projects will be conducted under Fugro’s QHSSE management system.
Ed Saade, President of Fugro USA, stated that the two contracts provide an opportunity to expand on the relationship Fugro has with Ørsted in Europe.
“We strongly support the growing offshore wind development activity here in the USA. It fits directly with our overall strategy for coastal zone management activity and coordination between industry, government and academia,” Saade said.
Prior to the contract awards Fugro carried out geoconsulting desktop studies and geotechnical ground thruthing for Ørsted.
In July, Bay State Wind received BOEM’s first approval of an offshore wind Site Assessment Plan (SAP). The wind farm could deliver first power in the early 2020s.
The Ocean Wind offshore wind farm is proposed for a 160,480 acre site located approximately 10 nautical miles off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Bay State and Ocean Wind offshore wind farms are each expected to have an installed capacity of more than 1GW.