Fugro has been contracted to carry out geophysical exploratory works for the Five Estuaries offshore wind farm, the extension to the existing Galloper project off east England.
The multi-million pound deal is the first RWE-led offshore geophysical exploratory works that Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm have placed.
Surveys are expected to take place in the southern North Sea from August to November 2021.
Three dedicated vessels will map the characteristics of the seabed and bedrock to assess the conditions around the wind farm site and the potential cable locations.
The seafloor and geophysical information that result from the surveys will help inform the project design and consenting activities.
The data will provide critical information about the seafloor, habitat, local geological and benthic ecological conditions at the site off the Suffolk coast.
Fugro has also been commissioned to carry out offshore site investigation and geophysical works for other RWE projects including Dublin Array, Ireland and North Falls which is a 50:50 partnership project with SSE, in the southern North Sea.
This follows a successful working relationship in the investigations for Sofia and Awel y Mor offshore wind farms and a competitive tendering process.
Five Estuaries project manager Umair Patel said: "Fugro offered the most competitive proposal, programme and have demonstrated technical competence in previous projects.
"The offshore surveys are a very important aspect of the project’s development and the data collected from these surveys will inform the Environmental Impact Assessment process and also help in the engineering design of the wind farm and with that in mind, we recently held our second Commercial Fisheries Working Group.
"The Southern North Sea is a busy area and our aim is to coexist peacefully with other sea users while we undertake the surveys and development work."
Fugro’s country director for the UK Laura Hughes said: "We're delighted to continue our successful relationship with RWE, providing critical early insights in support of the design of the Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm.
"Our clients appreciate our reliability in the acquisition and delivery of high-quality, large-volume Geo-data, and we look forward to delivering this again for another significant energy transition project."
The Five Estuaries project team recently held the second Commercial Fisheries Working Group to discuss the planned offshore surveys.
Brown & May Marine is the Five Estuaries team's dedicated fisheries liaison officer.
The Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm is currently at a relatively early stage of development and it is anticipated that the project, if approved, will become operational around 2030.