Inch Cape Offshore Limited (ICOL) has taken a step forward in its efforts to bring an offshore windfarm to the East of Scotland after embarking on a three-month site investigation.
Up to four vessels will undertake geophysical and geotechnical surveys on the 150 km2 proposed site, 15 km off the Angus coast, over 110 days (excluding weather downtime) between July and October. Surveys will also be carried out along the export cable corridor located within the Outer Firth of Tay and Firth of Forth, with works taking place off the North Berwick and Gullane coast in East Lothian.
ICOL project manager Ian Johnson said: “The offshore site investigation is a key step forward for the ICOL project. It will help us further understand the local conditions and inform the design of the wind farm as it progresses.”
Vessels will operate on a 24-hour, seven-day a week basis to drill boreholes on the development site and to allow soil sampling, refuelling out of local ports including Dundee and Montrose. Local maritime and fishing communities across Angus, Fife and East Lothian have been and will continue to be consulted throughout the investigation period to help minimise any significant impacts on the industry.
All vessels are requested to remain 500 m clear of the agreed exclusion zones to ensure the safety of both engineers and fishermen, and avoid any potential delays to the investigation. Surveys will only take place on certain zones for a matter of weeks with exclusion zones changing throughout the investigation period.
John Cudden, senior project manager for Horizon Geosciences Limited, appointed as principle contractor for the offshore survey added “We are delighted to be working with ICOL on the Inch Cape project, following our initial investigation on the site in 2014. We are pleased to bring our extensive experience of North Sea windfarm site investigations to the project and have confidence that works can be completed safely and to a high quality with minimal impact to the fishing community and other sea users.”
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