Rovco has successfully completed all survey work on behalf of Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn for the planned Cenos floating offshore windfarm located in the Central North Sea, 200 kilometres off the coast of North-east Scotland.
The high-technology offshore wind business was contracted to conduct a geo-environmental survey at the site, and area covering approximately 333km2.
Craig Davis, Director of Marine Site Characterisation for Rovco, said: “The work was safely and successfully completed by our newly established site characterisation division, using our multi-purpose, custom-reconfigured DP2 survey vessel, the Glomar Supporter.
“The deployment of the Supporter, which carries a full suite of survey tools, equipment, and technology, along with a highly experienced specialist team, was instrumental in ensuring that the fast-track delivery schedule for Cenos remained on schedule.
“This milestone reinforces the capabilities of our new business unit, designed to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach to site characterisation projects. We’re not just meeting expectations; we’re redefining the standard for completing surveys as swiftly, efficiently, and cost-effectively as possible.”
Rovco’s work scope included the acquisition of geophysical and benthic information, providing detailed data to inform environmental impact assessment (EIA) consents and the engineering processes from early front-end engineering and design (FEED) study.
The geophysical element of the scope required the acquisition of multi-beam echo sounder, side scan sonar, magnetometer, sub-bottom profiler, and multi-channel seismic data along with associated analysis, processing, interpretation, and reporting.
On completion, the Cenos wind farm of up to 1.4 GW will provide renewable electricity to oil and gas platforms, aiming to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the assets they supply. Cenos will also provide electricity to the UK grid. The windfarm is among the most advanced offshore wind projects in Europe for the electrification and decarbonisation of oil and gas platforms. Cenos is estimated to save more than 2 million tonnes of CO2 a year, supporting Scotland towards its 2045 net zero targets.
The Vårgrønn and Flotation Energy joint venture (JV) signed an exclusivity agreement with Crown Estate Scotland for the area earlier this month, after being awarded exclusivity earlier this year as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s INTOG (Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas) offshore leasing round.
Cenos Project Manager Scott McLaughlan said: “Working collaboratively with our supply chain partners is at the heart of our ethos and building strong relationships enables us to advance the Cenos and Green Volt INTOG projects with continued agility and pace.
“Rovco’s approach to managing and executing the fast-track survey brief for Cenos, effectively and within the challenging timeframes, has provided us with the continuity and depth of data we require to advance both our consent and our engineering plans. We are grateful for the commitment and support we received from Rovco’s new site characterisation division and look forward to building upon our relationship in the future.”
Launched at the turn of the year, Rovco’s marine site characterisation business unit was established to help address a critical industry shortage of companies with the all-round capabilities and expertise to support a rapidly emerging market during the earliest phases of offshore wind farm development.
At its heart is the multi-purpose DP2 survey vessel, Glomar Supporter. On long-term charter from Glomar, the vessel underwent an extensive rebuild and refurbishment in 2021 and has been reconfigured to permanently carry an entire suite of state-of-the-art survey sensors and equipment, aimed at providing the highest quality data capture, reporting and technology-enabled solutions for a streamlined and efficient site characterisation offering. This package offers complete flexibility while on site, to adapt and respond to different challenges in a single offshore trip.