Subsea surveys to soon start at Beatrice offshore wind farm

Subsea surveys are set to start on 5 October at the Beatrice offshore wind farm, located some 13 kilometres off the coast of Caithness in Scotland.

For the work, the DP2 vessel Glomar Wave and crew transfer vessel Iceni Spirit will be deployed at the site.

Surveys will be carried out on selected wind turbine foundations, both of Beatrice’s offshore transformer modules (OTMs), selected inter-array cable routes, and selected export cable routes, according to the project’s latest Notice to Mariners.

Survey operations will take place between 15 and 30 days, subject to weather conditions.

The 588 MW Beatrice offshore wind farm was officially opened by HRH Prince Charles of Wales on 29 July 2019.

Beatrice delivered first power in July 2018, shortly after Swire Blue Ocean’s jack-up vessel Pacific Orca installed the first turbine. The last of its 84 Siemens Gamesa 7 MW turbines was commissioned in May 2019.

As the majority shareholder, SSE Renewables led the construction process and is managing operations and maintenance (O&M) from its base in Wick.