Lloyd’s Register has used its specialist expertise in its Maine-based subsidiary, SGC Engineering, to support DONG Energy on its evaluation phase of the Bay State project with its offshore site and export cable route geophysical and hydrographic surveys.
DONG Energy has recently secured two leases in the United States – Bay State and Ocean Wind, off the coasts of Massachusetts and New Jersey respectively.
The route surveys are a critical part of the early phases of work in developing an offshore wind farm. They are used to investigate the narrow seabed corridor which contains the export cable that brings power onshore from the wind farm, LR explains.
Malgorzata Zorawinska at DONG Energy, says: “The offshore wind energy industry is less mature in the US than in Europe, and our focus is very much on being ‘smarter from the start’. As the global leader in its field, DONG Energy can apply significant experience, knowledge and lessons learned through its own in-house expertise and with trusted partners such as Lloyd’s Register.”
DONG Energy has also awarded Lloyd’s Register a second contract, which will support further offshore survey work of the Bay State Wind project in addition to the initial survey work needed in the Ocean Wind site, both planned for May 2017.
Michael Cousins , geoscience manager at Lloyd’s Register, says: “We are delighted to continue our long-standing relationship with DONG Energy and to support its significant new wind farm projects off the eastern seaboard of America.
“Being strategically located in the region with related electrical engineering, marine geoscience and survey capability allows us to readily apply our knowledge and to mobilise resources in an efficient and cost effective manner, which are undoubtedly important factors as the industry in the US starts to develop.”