Dutch company Fugro has completed a seabed survey for one of the longest direct current (DC) electricity interconnectors, Viking Link.
Being a joint venture (JV) between the UK’s National Grid and Denmark’s transmission system operator Energinet, the Viking Link is a proposed 1,400MW high-voltage, direct current (DC) electricity link, which would connect the UK with Danish electricity supplies.
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The interconnector passes under the North Sea from Revsing in Denmark to Bicker Fenn in the UK. It will facilitate improved and effective use of renewable energy, access to sustainable power production, and enhanced security of electricity supplies.
In February last year, Fugro was awarded a contract to survey the 630km marine section of the interconnector’s route, which covered several of the company’s specialist disciplines.
The survey began in Danish waters in March last year, crossing the southern North Sea through German and Dutch territorial waters, before concluding in the UK.
Fugro's senior project manager Amy Bergman said: “With a vast workscope, this project demonstrates how we manage an array of specialist survey disciplines.
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By GlobalData“Onshore, our work encompassed topographical and geophysical surveys at proposed landfalls in the UK and Denmark, while offshore, we used ten different survey vessels to perform inshore, nearshore, and offshore geophysical surveys and geotechnical investigations.”
While water depth and sediment data were collected using multibeam echo sounder, side scan sonar, magnetometer, pinger, and sparker over the full corridor length of the link, offshore, and nearshore geotechnical investigations included vibrocore and cone penetration testing.
In addition, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) was deployed to recognise and locate subsea assets, such as cables and pipelines that cross the proposed Viking Link route, and measure the burial depth of the assets.
While construction on the Viking Link project is planned to commence next year, it is expected to be in operation by 2022.
Image: Deployment of a 2m scientific beam trawl used for the collection of mobile epibenthic species. Photo: courtesy of Fugro.
