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Blue Gem Wind, the joint venture between TotalEnergies, one of the world’s largest energy companies, and Simply Blue Energy has begun geotechnical investigations on the Angle Peninsula. The work, which began in late May, is being led by Tetra Tech and is scheduled to last for up to 6 weeks. Ben Huskinson, Consenting Manager at Blue Gem Wind said, “These works involve examining soils and collecting samples of rock along the proposed onshore cable route for the Erebus floating wind farm. We will be carrying out the investigations from Pembroke Power Station across to West Angle Bay. Each location has been carefully selected to provide good representative samples, and avoid sensitive ecological and archaeological features.” The work involves excavating trail pits and borehole drilling to create small diameter holes to obtain samples of soil and rock. “Katy Woodhouse, Geo-Environmental Engineer, Tetra Tech, added, “We are delighted that our Cardiff based geo-environmental team have been chosen to work with Blue Gem Wind on this exciting low carbon project. ” Floating wind has wide potential, opening access to sites further offshore, which have less impact on the landscape and coastal activity, and benefit from higher wind resources. In a recent report, the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult has advised that there could be as much as 50GW of electricity capacity available in the Celtic Sea and estimated that the first GW of floating wind could potentially deliver over 3,000 jobs and £682m in supply chain opportunities for Wales and Cornwall by 2030. Blue Gem Wind’s first project, Erebus, will provide enough green energy for approximately 90,000 homes per year. To download a geotech public information sheet click here.
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