N-Sea Well Into East Anglia ONE UXO Hunt

UK and Netherlands-based subsea provider N-Sea is part-way through a multi-million-pound unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance campaign for ScottishPower Renewables on the 714MW East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm.

The contract for UXO clearance works commenced in December 2017 and includes UXO inspection, identification and clearance on the array area and export cable route of the wind farm located in the southern North Sea approximately 45km southeast of Lowestoft.

The workscope, which will be completed later in Spring 2018, requires a flexible multi-vessel approach in order to ensure completion in line with the timescale of wind farm construction, N-Sea said.

The Noordhoek Pathfinder, Neptunus, Siem N-Sea and Siem Barracuda have each been utilised to date, using ROVs to de-bury, inspect and identify items on a ‘master target list’ identified from previous survey works. Additional ROV and dive vessels will be brought into the campaign as the work progresses.

A number of confirmed WWII UXOs have already been identified during the project for later detonation on site. In addition, many items of debris and boulders have been identified for clearance.

N-Sea’s Commercial Director Gary Thirkettle said: “The offshore renewables market has become an integral part of our business model, providing huge growth for N-Sea as part of our long-term strategic plans. We have undertaken numerous UXO projects within the sector and are proud of our involvement in this recent campaign for Scottish Power Renewables.”

The East Anglia ONE will comprise 102 Siemens 7MW turbines set to be fully commissioned in 2020.