Fugro Completes Mayflower Wind Site Characterisation Campaign

Fugro has completed a six-month site characterisation campaign at the Mayflower Wind project area off the coast of Massachusetts, where Shell and Ocean Winds are developing an 804 MW offshore wind farm.

The company carried out high‑resolution surveys within the project’s lease area and along the export cable routes, with the acquired geo-data to support the permitting, design and installation of the Mayflower Wind offshore wind farm.

“These data are important to both permitting and engineering efforts and will help keep this important project on track to generate low-cost, clean energy to the state of Massachusetts by the mid-2020s”, said Mayflower Wind Technical Director Michiel Bekker.

Fugro secured a contract for the work at the beginning of this year and kicked off the project in April, using four vessels and one aircraft to acquire geo-data on water depths, seafloor morphology, seabed and sub-seabed geohazards, historical and archaeological resources, benthic habitats, and soil properties.

“In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Fugro coordinated closely with client representatives, implementing new procedures to ensure the health and safety of Fugro staff and stakeholders throughout the field programme”, Fugro said in a press release. “The strategies proved successful, with all required survey, geotechnical and environmental data collected on time and without incident. Laboratory testing, data integration and analysis are now underway to support the project’s construction and operation plans”.

Earlier this month, the 804 MW Mayflower Wind received an Order from Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) which approves long-term contracts of the offshore wind farm with the Commonwealth’s Electric Distribution Companies.

With a total levelized price of 7.8 cents/kilowatt hour, the project is expected to provide approximately 0.1 per cent to 1.8 per cent savings on customer’s monthly energy bills, all other bill impacts remaining equal.

The project, anticipated to go on line in 2025, is being developed by a joint venture between Shell New Energies and Ocean Winds, a global offshore wind collaboration between Engie and EDP Renewables.