Ørsted to Conduct Geophysical Survey at Hornsea Four Offshore Wind Farm Site

As part of the pre-construction works at the Hornsea Four offshore wind farm site in the UK, Ørsted will carry out a geophysical survey campaign starting in late March/early April. The purpose of the survey is to investigate the physical characteristics of the seabed to aid in detailed foundation design and installation activities, jack-up vessel, and cable installation assessments.

The geophysical surveys will be carried out by survey vessels Ocean Endeavour, Titan Endeavour, and Ocean Researcher, along with the support vessel GV Jacoba. The survey equipment will include a multibeam echosounder (MBES)/ Backscatter, side-scan sonar (SSS), magnetometer, Innomar sub-bottom profilers (SBPs), and an ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning system to calculate the position of underwater targets.

The mobilization of the first geophysical survey vessel will commence on March 14, with offshore work scheduled to begin around April 1. The campaign is expected to last approximately 180 days, factoring in weather downtime, according to a Notice to Mariners from the project.

Geophysical survey work at the Hornsea Four site follows geotechnical surveys that started last month. The Hornsea Four offshore wind farm, located 69 kilometers off the Yorkshire coast, is planned to have an installed capacity of 2.4 GW.

Development and Timeline

The project received consent from the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero in July 2023. Ørsted secured a Contract for Difference (CfD) for the offshore wind farm from the UK government in September 2024. In September of the same year, Ørsted announced plans to make the final investment decision on Hornsea Four within 18 months, targeting project commissioning before the end of 2030.

With these geophysical surveys underway, Ørsted is progressing steadily towards the development of the Hornsea Four offshore wind farm, contributing to the UK’s renewable energy goals and furthering the expansion of offshore wind capacity.