UPDATED: Ørsted Investigating Cable Routes, Landfall Sites for Skipjack Export Line

[This article was first published at 16:26 on 22 February and was updated on 14:26 on 24 February.]

Ørsted will start surveying potential landfall locations in Delaware for the Skipjack Wind 1 export cable this month, when work will begin on studying the seafloor and coastal terrain at three locations near Bethany Beach.

The commencement of landfall site survey activities was reported by Coastal Point on 17 February, after which the developer confirmed to offshoreWIND.biz that the first survey could start in late-February and that it planned for all activities to be undertaken this Spring, with an aim for the activities to be completed by the end of May.

“Using advanced technologies and environmental best practices, U.S. flagged survey vessels will conduct surveys in Indian River Bay and at locations along the Delaware coast offshore of Towers Beach and 3R’s Beach. The vessels will collect precise data about the nature and characteristics of the bay and sea floor”, the company said.

Ørsted will use the data to inform its review of potential landfall locations for Skipjack Wind.

The sites where the surveys are set to start by the end of this month are to the west of the Skipjack Wind 1 offshore wind farm.

On 17 February, the developer issued a Notice to Mariners informing about survey work being carried out at potential cable corridors, which are located to the northwest of the project site, offshore North Shores and near the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse.

In the notice, Ørsted says that these Skipjack Wind survey operations were initially scheduled to be completed by the end of July 2021, but were delayed through to January 2022.

“Due to additional delays as a result of unforeseeable circumstances, operations will continue into February 2022”, the developer said.

Located 19 miles (approximately 30 kilometres) off the Maryland-Delaware coast, the 120 MW Skipjack Wind Farm is planned to connect to an existing substation.

In 2020, Ørsted decided against constructing the interconnection facility for the Skipjack wind farm at Fenwick Island State Park in Sussex County, Delaware, for which it entered a non-binding agreement with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) in 2019.

The 120 Skipjack 1 project will feature GE Haliade-X 12 MW wind turbines, subject to final agreed and signed contract, and all required project approvals.