A geophysical and environmental survey is set to soon commence at the Salamander floating offshore wind project off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea.
The geophysical survey and benthic drop-down video and grab survey activities are expected to commence on 26 July at the earliest and run until 30 September at the latest, in case of weather delays or downtime.
The geophysical scope of work will be divided into three main areas, including the offshore wind farm array area, offshore section of the export cable route, and nearshore section of the export cable route.
Ocean Infinity will conduct the offshore geophysical survey using Northern Franklin, while SEP Hydrographic will carry out the nearshore geophysical survey using Mersey Discovery.
The geophysical survey will include multibeam echosounder (MBES), acoustic MBES backscatter (ABS), side-scan sonar (SSS), magnetometer (MAG), and high-frequency sub-bottom profiler (SBP) data.
Its aim is to also provide the necessary data to feed into the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.
The 100 MW Salamander project is being developed by Simply Blue Energy Scotland (SBES).
It is located approximately 35 kilometres east of Peterhead in the Northeast of Scotland, in an outline area of interest of approximately 67 square kilometres with water depths up to 115 metres.
Ørsted joined the joint venture behind the project and acquired a majority stake in April.