Energinet awards geological and geophysical survey contracts

Fugro, Ocean Infinity, and GEO.xyz have been awarded contracts by Energinet to provide geological and geophysical consultancy services for the potential development of offshore wind farms in the Danish North Sea, Danish Kattegat, and Danish Baltic Sea.

The total value of the procurement, excluding VAT, is approximately €49 million.

The tender concerning the performance of geophysical survey activities in the area of investigation for the potential development of offshore wind farms was divided into four lots.

Lot 1 contract was awarded to GEO.xyz for the inner Danish Seas, WPA B and C. Fugro will be responsible for the WPA geological survey in the North Sea I area, while the Swedish company Ocean Infinity was awarded Lot 3 and Lot 4 contracts for WPB – box survey and PWC – geophysical survey, respectively, in the North Sea I.

In September last year, Energinet gave the green light to carry out feasibility studies for four new offshore wind farms.

This follows Energinet receiving orders from the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) and the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities in June to initiate feasibility studies for the North Sea I (Nordsø I), Kattegat II and Kriegers Flak II areas – which would add a total of 6 GW of offshore wind capacity to the Danish grid, as well as for the Hesselø offshore wind farm that could have up to 1.2 GW of installed capacity.

The three new offshore wind farms, each having an installed capacity of up to 2 GW, are planned to be built by 2030.

In June 2022, the project site for the Hesselø offshore wind farm was moved to the south of the initially planned area, due to unfavourable seabed conditions at the original site.

All results and reports for the feasibility studies for the Hesselø project must be completed by the end of 2024, at the latest.

The wind farm is expected to have a capacity of between 800 MW and 1,200 MW, and to be in operation by the end of 2029.