A vessel doing offshore wind survey work off the coast of Delaware hopes to be done by Memorial Day weekend.
The work is being done by offshore wind developer Ørsted, which is searching for the best route to run cables linking a wind farm to the mainland.
The company is currently developing seven projects across five states up and down the East Coast, including the Skipjack Wind project off the Maryland and Delaware coast.
Ørsted Mid-Atlantic market manager Brady Walker says this survey vessel is taking core samples to analyze conditions on and underneath the ocean floor at five locations off the Towers Beach area and the 3R’s Beach area in Delaware Seashore State Park.
“That is part of the ongoing effort that we’ve been carrying out for several months now to evaluate some of the characteristics of areas that we think may be viable areas for cable landfall,” he said.
The information and data gathered is required to see which sites are viable for cable landfall from a technical and environmental perspective.
Ultimately, the data will be sent to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management later this year and it will make a decision on the best location after a public comment period.
Walker noted that if Ørsted does not finish the survey work by Memorial Day weekend, the vessel will return in September to finish.
