XOCEAN to Deploy USV Fleet for Geophysical Survey at UK Offshore Wind Farm

(Credit: XOCEAN)

A fleet of XOCEAN’s uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) will be deployed at Dogger Bank D offshore wind farm to carry out a multi-beam echosounder (MBES) geophysical survey, starting from August 13.

Eleven XOCEAN USVs will be mobilized from Scarborough or Hartlepool Harbour where each USV will be escorted out of the harbor limits, before transiting to the survey area.

Survey operations will be continuous 24hrs a day. Although vessels are uncrewed, they are managed remotely continuously using 360-degree cameras and other sensors.

The works will begin on the August 13, 2024, and will continue until December 31, 2024 when all locations have been surveyed, it is stated in the project’s notice to mariners.

The proposed Dogger Bank D offshore wind farm, co-developed by SSE and Equinor, will have an installed capacity of up to 2 GW and be located in the North Sea around 210km off the northeast coast at its closest point to shore, if consented and approved for delivery.

Earlier in 2024, the developers submitted a scoping report to the Planning Inspectorate for the project, which represents the fourth phase of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, and have also established commercial terms of seabed lease for Dogger Bank D, subject to the final outcome of The Crown Estate’s Capacity Improvement Programme and associated plan-Level Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA).

The existing 3.6 GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm was granted development consent in 2015 and is currently under construction in the North Sea across three build-out phases, Dogger Bank A, B and C. Once complete, Dogger Bank Wind Farm will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm in operation.