Dutch geotechnical services firm Fugro has mobilized two additional vessels off the coast of New Jersey to support its ongoing site characterization work for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind.
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind is a joint venture between Shell and EDF working to develop a 183,353-acre lease area on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
The lease area (OCS-0499) is located within the New Jersey Wind Energy Area. The Atlantic Shores offshore wind project is expected to go online in 2026.
Fugro has been operating in the Atlantic Shores lease area since May, and now has three vessels on site with a fourth to be added later this month.
The project involves collection of high resolution geophysical, benthic, and shallow geotechnical data within the lease area and along two proposed export cable routes.
These data will be processed and analyzed to characterize site conditions, including bathymetry, seafloor morphology, subsurface geology, environmental and biological sites, seafloor obstructions, soil conditions, and archaeological resources.
Atlantic Shores will use this information to safely design, permit, and install future wind farm facilities, which could generate up to 2500 MW of renewable energy for residents along the mid-Atlantic.
Ed Saade, Fugro’s Group Director for the Americas, said: “Not only is Atlantic Shores a sizeable project that highlights our ability to manage a comprehensive work scope in a single field season, but it also demonstrates our ability to evolve alongside our long-time client, Shell. Together, we are adapting decades of site characterization experience developed through oil and gas projects worldwide to serve a new energy market in the US and a more sustainable future.”
Weather permitting, the field program will continue through the autumn and winter, Fugro said.