France's RTE Taps Fugro for Geotechnical Survey for Offshore Wind Substations in Mediterranean Sea

French transmission grid operator Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE) has awarded Fugro a contract to perform a geotechnical investigation for future offshore substations (OSS) at two floating wind farm sites in the Gulf of Lion in the Mediterranean Sea.

Offshore Substations collect the electricity produced in wind turbines and convert it to a high voltage before being transferred onshore via export cables. Fugro’s Geo-data will provide insight into seabed conditions, to enable efficient OSS design and help derisk the project’s future developmental phases.

Fugro on Wednesday mobilized its Gargano vessel, equipped with drilling, sampling and cone penetration testing equipment. Fugro will perform a series of deep geotechnical boreholes to acquire data on ground conditions for OSS foundations.

The resulting Geo-data from Fugro’s investigations will be used to develop a comprehensive ground model which will include the integration of previously acquired geophysical data. This will be used by RTE and developers as input for future tenders and OSS designs.

These offshore developments are part of the French government’s plans to accelerate the growth of offshore wind power in France, with each of the two sites having a capacity of 750MW.