Geotechnical Investigation Contract Awarded for 3 GW Scottish Floating Wind Project - Offshore WIND
Geotechnical investigation contract awarded for 3 GW Scottish floating wind project - Offshore Energy
Geotechnical investigation contract awarded for 3 GW Scottish floating wind project
Geoquip Marine has secured a contract to gather engineering data to support a proposed floating offshore wind project in Scotland that is being developed by ScottishPower and Shell.
To support the MarramWind project, Geoquip Marine is set to perform a complete geotechnical investigation to gather soil and geotechnical data for developing an engineering ground model.
According to the company, this model is essential for feasibility studies, including the design and installation assessments of various components, such as anchors for the floating platforms, fixed foundations for the offshore substation, and inter-array cable systems.
The survey work is being undertaken by Geoquip’s vessel Seehorn and will continue into 2024 when down-hole work using one of the company’s integrated geotechnical survey vessels (IGSV) will take place.
“Floating wind will be a global gamechanger for the offshore renewables industry and we’re really excited that MarramWind could be one of the first commercial-scale floating offshore wind farms in the world,” said Richard Eakin, Project Director for MarramWind.
“It’s great to see MarramWind moving on with pace and purpose and to have Geoquip Marine on board as we undertake this vital geotechnical survey work that will inform upcoming technical studies and design activities for this exciting green energy project.”
ScottishPower and Shell were awarded seabed rights for the MarramWind project in last year’s auction in Scotland, as well as for the 2 GW CampionWind floating wind project that will be built 100 kilometers offshore the east coast of Scotland.
Located 75 kilometers off the northeast coast of Scotland, in water depths averaging 100 meters, the proposed MarramWind project could deliver up to 3 GW of cleaner renewable energy, enough to power the equivalent of more than 3.5 million homes.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.