Surveys underway at planned Celtic Sea floating wind farm

N-Sea has commenced geophysical, (limited) UXO and environmental surveys within the area of the White Cross floating offshore wind project in the Celtic Sea

The activities, which began on 29 May, will see the company survey the offshore wind farm location and the project’s export cable route corridor.

Offshore works will be completed by N-Sea personnel on board the survey vessels Braveheart Spirit and Geo Focus.

Geo Focus arrived at the field at the end of May, while Braveheart Spirit is expected to join in mid-June.

The geophysical and UXO survey will employ MBES, SSS, high-resolution sub-bottom profiler, single channel sparker and magnetometers, while the environmental survey will acquire drop down video footage and grab samples.

All environmental sampling will be executed by subcontractor Ocean Ecology.

As nearshore areas have the potential to hold higher densities of static fishing gear, all survey operations will be undertaken during daylight hours.

The proposed White Cross wind farm is located approximately 50 kilometers off the Devon and Cornwall coast.

Cobra and Flotation Energy are joint venture project partners for the 100 MW project.

In July 2021, The Crown Estate selected White Cross, as well as two other floating offshore wind demonstration projects, through its leasing opportunity for early commercial-scale floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea.