Surveys starting at Celtic Sea floating wind demo projects

Geophysical and environmental surveys will commence next week at two 100 MW floating offshore wind demonstration projects that will be built off the coast of southwest Wales in the Celtic Sea.

The surveys at the planned Llŷr and Llŷr 2 offshore wind projects and their northern export cable route corridors will take place starting from 21 September until 1 December.

The project sites are situated off the Pembrokeshire coast, in the approaches to the Bristol Channel, approximately 40 kilometers offshore at depths averaging 60-70 meters.

According to project developer Floventis Energy, a joint venture of SBM Offshore and Cierco, the sites enjoy high average windspeeds which are, typically, in excess of 10 meters per second.

N-Sea is in charge of carrying out the geophysical and benthic survey works using the survey vessel Braveheart Spirit, while all environmental sampling will be executed by the subcontractor Ocean Ecology.

Geophysical survey operations will employ a multibeam echosounder (MBES), side-scan sonar (SSS), high-resolution sub-bottom profiler and a single magnetometer.

The environmental survey will acquire drop-down video footage and grab samples.

Floventis Energy was chosen to build the two floating wind projects in July 2021 in the Crown Estate’s leasing opportunity for early commercial-scale floating wind projects in the Celtic Sea.

To ensure a coordinated approach to assessing potential environmental impacts, Llŷr and the Whitecross test and demonstration scale project will form part of the Plan-Level Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA).

The Llŷr and Llŷr 2 projects will have a capacity of 100 MW, respectively, and will each comprise 6 to 8 next-generation turbines. The combined output is expected to provide power for approximately 250,000 homes annually.

Subject to consent applications for development, construction of the floating platforms and infrastructure is planned to begin in 2024, with installation commencing in 2025/26.

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