SSE Renewables and the consortium behind the Ossian floating offshore wind farm has awarded the contract for geotechnical investigations to Fugro and Ocean Infinity.

The Ossian project is being delivered by a partnership of Scottish renewable energy developer SSE Renewables, Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corporation and Danish fund management company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

Set to be located across 858sq km of seabed in waters off the east coast of Scotland, the project could power up to six million homes and offset up to 7.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Fugro will focus on downhole geotechnical sampling and in situ cone penetration testing, while Ocean Infinity will focus on the seabed scope which will include shallow vibro-cores and deep push seabed cone penetration tests.

John Davidson, SSE Renewables, Offshore Geotechnical Technical Authority, said: "This is a major step forward in the exploratory work needed to make the Ossian Wind Farm a reality.

"After a competitive tendering process, it was clear that Fugro and Ocean Infinity have the skills, equipment, knowledge and expertise to embark on a survey of this scale.

"The Ossian team look forward to working with both companies and to realising the geotechnical investigation results which will be integral to the progression of what would be a world-leading floating wind project."

Fugro plans to use its purpose-built geotechnical drilling vessel, the Fugro Scout. The ship is equipped with ultra-deepwater drilling technology and state-of-the-art onboard systems which enable the vessel to safely carry out complex marine geotechnical operations.

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Meanwhile, Ocean Infinity plans to use its vessel, Stril Explorer which is a multi-purpose support vessel with state-of-the-art seabed geotechnical equipment onboard.

Marscha De Bruijn, Project Manager for Fugro, said: "We are excited to support project partners, SSE Renewables, Marubeni Corporation and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners with the development of the Ossian wind farm. Our global expertise, resources and technical capabilities will be used to provide superior Geo-data on the soil conditions below the seafloor to help inform future designs and add value to the project."

Nils Ingvarson, Chief Commercial Officer for Ocean Infinity, said: "We are thrilled to have been chosen by the project partners to support the Ossian wind farm development. We are committed to contributing to a more sustainable future and as such are very proud that our geotechnical services will play a significant role in the work needed to make this new floating wind farm a reality."

Both surveys will commence this Spring. Ocean Infinity expects to have completed its survey work by the end of May while Fugro expects its downhole scope survey to be completed at the start of July. The surveys will significantly improve the seabed understanding across the project site by ground-truthing the already acquired geophysical information. This will subsequently enable design development activities to progress such as anchor in-place and installation design.

About the Ossian Floating Offshore Windfarm project partners

The highly credible SSE Renewables-Marubeni-Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) consortium has unrivalled local and global experience as well as unparalleled technical and environmental expertise, making it uniquely placed to deliver on Crown Estate Scotland's ScotWind goal of securing around 27.6GW of new offshore wind projects in Scottish waters.

SSE Renewables already has an unrivalled track record in Scotland, including the country's largest offshore wind portfolio and is building more offshore wind energy in the world right now than any other company. It includes the 1.1GW Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm, approx. 27km from the coast of Angus in the North Sea, which will be Scotland's largest, and the world's deepest, fixed-bottom offshore wind farm when complete in 2023.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S (CIP) today is the world's largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind. CIP has an international footprint with vast experience of delivering offshore wind across continents and has opened a global floating offshore wind competence centre in Edinburgh.

Marubeni owns stakes in power projects across 21 countries (including Japan) for a total net capacity of about 12GW. For Ossian, Marubeni brings a wealth of sector experience of delivering floating offshore wind, including leading floating offshore wind demonstration projects in Japan with five different floating foundations.

These capabilities and commitments, coupled with a combined worldwide development portfolio of more than 27GW, demonstrate the SSE Renewables-Marubeni-CIP partnership's extensive and successful track record of delivery in offshore wind, both locally and globally.