Site Investigations Underway at RWE’s Three Norfolk Offshore Wind Project Sites

July 4, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

RWE has kicked off geophysical and geotechnical site investigations at the Norfolk Boreas, Norfolk Vanguard East, and Norfolk Vanguard West offshore wind project sites in the UK, rights to which the German company acquired from Vattenfall earlier this year.

An image showing Norfolk Boreas and Norfolk Vanguard East Offshore Wind sites on a map — RWE notice to mariners, Norfolk Offshore Wind Farm Zone, 18 June 2024

The survey vessel Braveheart Spirit is conducting geotechnical survey operations within the boundaries of the Norfolk Boreas and Norfolk Vanguard East offshore wind farm sites. The shallow geotechnical scope consists of in situ measurements and sampling, cone penetration testing (CPT) and (locally thermal) vibrocore. The survey campaign just started and is expected to last for three months.

At the Norfolk Vanguard East project site, geophysical and seismic surveys have also been underway since June, with the vessels Geo Ranger, Noordhoek Pathfinder, and Geo Focus deployed for the work.

Geo Ranger and Noordhoek Pathfinder are conducting geophysical survey operations within the boundaries of the Norfolk Vanguard East site and along the export corridor boundaries. The surveys are estimated to be taking place until the end of 2024, weather-dependent.

The Geo Focus survey vessel will be performing seismic surveys within the boundaries of the Norfolk Vanguard East offshore wind farm site and is expected to complete the work by the end of October.

The survey vessels Geo Focus and Noordhoek Pathfinder started their assignment on RWE’s Norfolk offshore wind portfolio of projects in May with geophysical surveys at the Norfolk Vanguard West site.

Together with Norfolk Vanguard East and West, the Norfolk Boreas project forms part of the larger Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone, which is designed to produce enough electricity to power nearly 3.9 million UK homes once operational.

The three projects – Norfolk Vanguard West, Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Boreas – each with a planned capacity of 1.4 GW, are located 50 to 80 kilometres off the coast of Norfolk in East Anglia.

Initially developed by Vattenfall and acquired by RWE in March 2024, the three Norfolk offshore wind projects have already secured seabed rights, grid connections, Development Consent Orders and all other key permits.

The Norfolk Vanguard West and Norfolk Vanguard East projects are the most advanced, having secured the procurement of most key components.

Upon taking over the three offshore wind projects totalling 4.2 GW from Vattenfall, RWE said the next milestone in the development of the Norfolk Vanguard West and the Norfolk Vanguard East projects was to secure a Contract for Difference (CfD) in one of the upcoming auctions.

The company also resumed the development of the Norfolk Boreas project, which was previously halted.