The CrossWind consortium, a joint venture between Shell in the Netherlands and Eneco, has awarded Fugro a contract to deliver comprehensive geotechnical site investigation solutions to support development of the Hollandse Kust (noord) offshore wind farm. The site investigation solutions will comprise an unexploded ordnance (UXO) site clearance survey followed by a seabed cone penetration test (CPT) investigation.

After clearing the sites with the Fugro vessel Atlantis Dweller, Fugro will mobilise their seabed SEACALF^® Mk V DeepDrive CPT system for the fieldwork, which is scheduled to begin this month and should complete by the end of September. The SEACALF acquires high-quality data over the full foundation depth of wind turbines and has already been successfully deployed on a series of North Sea projects.

Tjalling de Bruin, Project Director for CrossWind, said: “We are looking forward to working with Fugro to execute our first offshore activities safely and in good health during these extraordinary times. With a signed contract in place and the site investigation team mobilising, the work is progressing well to deliver clean energy by 2023.”

Sven Plasman, Commercial Manager at Fugro, added: “We are pleased that our proven track record on previous projects for Shell and Eneco, and our deep knowledge of offshore wind farm developments have led to another major contract award using the efficiency and safety of our seabed site investigation solutions such as the SEACALF Mk V DeepDrive CPT system.”

The CrossWind consortium plans to have Hollandse Kust (noord) operational by 2023 with an installed capacity of 759 MW, generating at least 3.3 TWh per year. The wind farm will be located 18.5 km off the Dutch coast near the town of Egmond aan Zee.