Fugro to Survey Site for Lithuania’s First Offshore Wind Farm

Business development

November 16, 2023, by Adnan Memija

Ignitis Renewables has awarded Fugro a contract to conduct a geophysical survey at Lithuania’s first offshore wind farm site.

In October, Ignitis Renewables, together with Ocean Winds, was confirmed as the winner of Lithuania’s first offshore wind tender after the joint venture was selected in the auction in July and declared the provisional winner.

The site where the country’s first offshore wind farm will be built is located approximately 30–36 kilometres off Lithuania’s Baltic Sea coast and covers an area of approximately 120 square kilometres.

Fugro’s designated geophysical survey vessel, the Fugro Frontier, is currently on-site in the Baltic Sea surveying the area, collecting 2D ultra-ultra-high-resolution (UUHR) sub-surface data, as well as bathymetry, sidescan sonar, and magnetometer data.

The 2,000 survey line kilometres of high-quality data collected will be crucial for characterising the site and identifying potential risks to an offshore wind farm development in this area, Fugro said.

These insights will inform the selection of future geotechnical investigations and help create a detailed ground model that Ignitis Renewables will use to determine the optimal wind turbine foundation design and locations.

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“The geophysical data acquisition is a critical milestone in our preparatory phase, laying the groundwork necessary to initiate construction on schedule,” said Vytautas Rimas, Head of Offshore Development at Ignitis Renewables.

Scheduled to begin operations by 2030, the 700 MW offshore wind farm is expected to generate up to 3 TWh of electricity annually, which would meet up to a quarter of Lithuania’s current electricity demand.