Geotechnical survey about to begin in Scotland’s Caledonia offshore wind farm

A Geotechnical survey campaign is about to commence on Caledonia wind farm’s proposed site, 40 kilometers off the northeast coast of Scotland, following a successful geophysical survey campaign.

The Caledonia wind farm is going to be located in the Moray Firth, near Inverness, adjacent to the already existing Moray East farm and the under-development Moray West, which is planned to enter service in 2025. 

Caledonia is going to be constructed in a 429 square kilometer surface area, and at sea depths ranging between 40 and 100 meters.

The project is going to feature up to 150 wind turbines with a 2 GW total production capacity, which will make it capable of powering up to 2 million homes and businesses.  

It was stated by the developers how they have already built a robust data catalogue of the broader Moray Firth site over the past decade. However, their goal now is to investigate the site-specific ground conditions of Caledonia, and gain engineering insights that will determine the turbines’ foundation design.

The geotechnical survey is going to be carried out by the Horizon Geobay vessel, which will conduct a series of CPTs and borehole sampling. The vessel is currently located in Poland and is expected to be on site in Scotland in mid-August.

Finally, according to the developers, the offshore campaign is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, depending on weather conditions, while Caledonia itself is planned to enter service in 2030.