Acteon Geo-services awarded floating wind site investigation by BlueFloat Energy and Renantis Partnership

UTEC*, Acteon's Geo-services business line, has been awarded a combined geophysical and geotechnical survey work scope by the BlueFloat Energy and Renantis Partnership for its Bellrock and Broadshore wind farms northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland. BlueFloat Energy and Renantis joined forces to develop floating offshore wind projects in response to last year’s ScotWind licensing round. When operational, the Bellrock and Broadshore wind farms will have capacities of 1200 and 900 MW, respectively.  

“We are delighted to be supporting a partnership that has deep knowledge of and experience in developing floating wind projects, and of community engagement in Scotland,” says Paul Smith, Executive Vice President, Acteon Geo-services. “Our early involvement will provide detailed engineering and data interpretation services to help all project participants understand the seafloor composition and structure. The integration of these studies under a single contract minimises interfaces and creates significant efficiencies for our clients.”  

These flagship projects build on Acteon’s experience in geophysical and geotechnical offshore wind surveys. Although UTEC* have acquired and transformed data into critical insight to drive many offshore wind developments, this award will be the first offshore wind site investigation for UTEC* in the North Sea and the first combined geophysical and geotechnical win for these Acteon Geo-services brands. The projects also add to Acteon’s strong floating wind track record.  

UTEC’s market-leading seafloor drilling solution, portable remotely operated drill (PROD), will be deployed on both projects. This further signifies UTEC’s transition into the renewable energy sector and builds on its successful track record of utilising PROD to execute several geotechnical site investigations for renewables developers on the UK East Coast and in Europe in 2022.  

The geophysical scope will involve using the Ocean Fortune, a geophysical survey vessel designed specifically for year-round North Sea operations, which UTEC’s* has on long-term charter. Local content will be provided from Acteon’s broad asset base in Aberdeenshire and Acteon Geo-services brand UTEC’s state-of-the-art in-house data centre in Livingston, West Lothian.  

“Acquiring a detailed understanding of the ground conditions around our Broadshore and Bellrock offshore wind farms is a significant step in our development plans, and we are delighted to be partnering with Acteon Geo-services on this piece of work,” says Susie Lind, Managing Director for the Renantis and BlueFloat Energy Partnership. “Acteon’s global expertise, coupled with the flexibility of combining geophysical and geotechnical survey scopes into one campaign, will bring us a step closer to delivering our world-leading, commercial scale floating offshore projects.”  

“This is an exciting time,” adds Paul Smith. “We have extensive offshore wind site investigation experience to bring to the floating wind market. The combination of UTEC’s* geophysical, geotechnical and local content data handling and positioning services from our Geo-services business line enables Acteon to offer a differentiated service. This significant win, along with our long-term charter of the Ocean Fortune survey vessel, demonstrates our commitment to the European offshore wind market in 2023 and beyond.”  

*Originally contracted through Benthic and Terrasond