Fugro to Investigate Wind Farm Sites

Fugro and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, have signed two contracts to investigate the Borssele wind area, off the Zeeland coast. The workscope includes measuring meteorological and oceanographic conditions and performing geophysical investigations of the seabed.

Fugro will measure wind speeds at the future wind farm locations using its Seawatch Wind LiDAR , a device that uses laser beams to collect meteorological data from a floating buoy. This information is crucial for wind farm developers who use the data to calculate as accurately as possible the anticipated yield from the planned wind farms in the Borssele wind farm zone.

The geophysical investigation of the seabed will provide detailed information about water depth, geology and possible obstacles on and below the seabed at Borssele plots III and IV. With these data the best possible design for an offshore wind farm and the construction of the necessary electrical infrastructure can be determined.

As required by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, RVO.nl makes information about soil, meteorological and oceanographic conditions at the wind farm sites available to commercial parties. They can use this information in their bid for the SDE (Stimulation of Sustainable Energy Production) tender Offshore Wind. The first tender in Borssele starts in December 2015 and the tender for lots III and IV will begin in 2016.