EnBW and BP have hired marine consultancy and survey company ABPmer to provide detailed seabed mobility information for the Round 4 Morgan Offshore Wind Ltd and Mona Offshore Wind Ltd farms in the eastern Irish Sea.
In addition to delivering metocean design and operating criteria for the wind farms and export cable corridors, ABPmer is now assessing the seabed mobility potential for both projects.
The work will be used to help support export cable route selection and inform the ongoing wind turbine foundation and array/export cable design process.
"To inform understanding of the behavioral characteristics of the seabed across both project sites, ABPmer will draw on outputs from its ongoing detailed metocean studies for Morgan and Mona, recent and historic seabed surveys, and geophysical data collected specifically for the projects. High resolution hydrodynamic and sediment transport modeling are also being used to map the detail of long-term regional scale sediment transport pathways," ABPmer explained.
Morgan and Mona detailed design will continue through 2023, the wind farms are expected to be fully operational by 2029.
In February 2021, EnBW and BP were jointly selected as preferred bidders for the two leases in the UK Offshore Wind Round 4, the first such UK leasing round since 2010.
When revealing the wind farms' names in July 2021, Burkhard Roemhild, EnBW project director, said: "We were inspired by the location of these two offshore wind developments and their connection to the region. Morgan means "sea chief" in Old Welsh, and Mona relates to Ynys Môn, the Welsh name for the Isle of Anglesey."
