Following swiftly from the recent release of Global Maritime’s Finland – Gulf of Bothnia SIR, Global Maritime’s Geosciences department – “GM Geo” – has launched a further geological, geohazard and geotechnical desktop study covering a potential 13GW of floating offshore wind lease areas in the Gulf of Maine, offshore US which will be subject to competitive leasing in late 2024.
Global Maritime Geosciences Launches Further Seabed Intelligence Report – Gulf of Maine
The SIR covers all eight of the prospective leasing areas: OCS-A 0562, OCS-A 0563, OCS-A 0564, OCS-A 0565, OCS-A 0566, OCS-A 0567, OCS-A 0568, and OCS-A 0569. The prospective lease areas are located offshore of Rockland, Maine and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The SIR is a valuable source of information for developers with existing project boundaries in early development and for those seeking to make an informed decision on potential lease areas in the upcoming Gulf of Maine leasing process.
The SIR investigates seabed conditions across the area of search, identifying principal strata and the suitability/risk implications for the development of offshore wind farms (in particular deployment of anchor foundations and cables) by subdividing the area of search into provinces and units of similar geological and geotechnical conditions to be considered in the development and engineering process.
Qualitative assessments of risk for different anchor technologies are made with respect to floating wind, and outline risk mitigations provided. The study also considers ground conditions and seabed constraints within the potential areas of interest for export cable routing. To provide added value, Global Maritime’s SIR also considers the implications of existing marine traffic, seabed wrecks, infrastructure, environmental designations and other marine uses on the siting and development of offshore wind projects.
Within the detailed SIR are a series of maps presenting spatial information and interpretation of conditions across the continental shelf.
Jordan Geear, Global Business Lead Engineering Geology, commented, ‘The Gulf of Maine has significant potential for rapid floating offshore wind development, and an early understanding of key seabed and subsurface constraints to anchor foundations and cables in this region will assist bidders in evaluating the geo-risks (and geo-opportunities!) associated with each of the FSN areas.
Parties interested in acquiring our Gulf of Maine SIR should visit our Geosciences page for further information.
