50Hertz, Elia issue UXO survey and clearance call

German and Belgium transmission system operators (TSOs), 50Hertz and Elia, have issued a tender for offshore unexploded ordnance (UXO) survey, identification, and clearance campaign in the cable installation corridor(s) in the Baltic and North Seas.

Since this joint procurement involves different countries, the state applicable national procurement law is that of Germany.

The objective of the UXO survey and ID and clearance campaign is to mitigate the risk of UXO present in the cable installation corridor(s) to ensure a safe installation including all route clearance and route preparation activities as for example boulder clearance, pre-lay grapnel run, dredging, mattress installation, and anchoring.

The UXO survey does not comprise the onshore section.

The scope of the campaign consists of two phases. The first phase includes high-resolution bathymetry, acquired with multibeam echosounder (MBES) equipment, sea bottom imagery, acquired with side-scan sonar (SSS) equipment, magneto metric survey data, acquired with underwater magnetometer detection equipment, and analysis based on survey investigation and interpretation of all the acquired data.

The first phase also comprises the provision of a Master Target List (MTL), a live document, and the provision of a boulder target list.

Phase 1 is to be understood as an iterative process, therefore first results can be communicated to start phase 2, while the remaining works of phase 1 still need to be executed, according to the tender.

The second phase includes target inspection as per MTL, identification and disposal as required of non-UXO items (e.g. debris) and actual UXO objects, as well as electromagnetic survey, iterative updating of MTL and the issue of an FFE certificate (either one for the entire route or several per route section).

Germany and Belgium, together with other members of the  North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC), agreed to reach at least 260 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050.

The members also agreed on expansion targets for the North Sea region of 76 GW of offshore wind by 2030, and 193 GW by 2040.