Lithuania’s Ministry of Energy has announced the winner of a competition for the first wind farm in the Baltic Sea who will conduct seabed research.
It is a group of two companies, Geobaltic and Garant Diving under a joint contract, who will conduct geophysical and geotechnical surveys of the seabed, necessary for the installation of a wind farm in the Baltic Sea, with the help of the Polish subcontractor LOTOS Petrobaltic SA. This service provider was selected by the Lithuanian Energy Agency following an international public tender.
Geobaltic and Garant Diving have local and international experience in hydrographic-geophysical and geoengineering seabed surveys, mandatory seismic, and geotechnical surveys. They also specialize in laboratory analysis of geomechanical properties of soil samples.
Planned seabed surveys are critical to understanding the structure of the seabed, which will influence the selection of wind farm designs and the depth at which they will be installed. Depending on the results of seabed research, the depth of foundations of the wind farm can be up to 25 meters, the website of the Ministry of Energy of Lithuania reads.
The planned work includes all major mandatory seabed surveys and is important for preparing the auction of permits to use the Lithuanian marine area for wind farm construction in 2023 and for obtaining EU funds.
The service provider will have to conduct geophysical and geotechnical surveys of the seabed within 11 months of signing the agreement with the Ministry of Energy of Lithuania.
Source: Ministry of Energy of Lithuania
