Function
Sea bed surveys analyse the sub sea bed environment of the proposed wind farm site and export cable route to assess its geological condition and engineering characteristics. The data collected is utilised in a wide range of engineering and environmental studies through the design and development phase.
What it costs*
About £9.4 million for a 1 GW wind farm.
Who supplies them
Suppliers include ABL Group, Acteon Group, Arup, Briggs Marine, Cathie, CMS Geoscience, DORIS, EGS, Enshore Subsea, Fugro, G-tec, Gardline, Horizon, James Fisher Marine Services, MMT, Mott MacDonald, Ocean Infinity, Oceaneering, OEG Renewables, RPS, Sulmara, Tekmar Group, Venterra, Wood Thilsted and Ultrabeam.
Key facts
Sea bed surveys consist of two main parts; geophysical surveys of sea bed features and bathymetry; geotechnical surveys of the sea bed characteristics.
Sea bed surveys are an important component of the development process and aid a number of processes, such as optimising the foundation design and wind farm layout, as well as minimising risk during installation activities.
Environmental and sea bed (geotechnical and geophysical) surveys and data collection start up five years or more before the planned operation of the wind farm.
Offshore wind development typically requires more data collection over larger areas but the technical approaches are similar to other sectors, such as oil and gas.
The move to auction based systems such as Contract for Differences (CfD) in the UK has placed a greater emphasis on geological and hydrographical surveys as developers require greater design and cost certainty earlier in the development process.