Fugro has been awarded contracts by Ørsted to undertake geotechnical investigations at Bay State Wind, located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts and Ocean Wind, 10 miles off the New Jersey coast.

The marine site characterisation at both sites involves specialised sampling and in situ testing which Fugro will perform from its dedicated DP2 geotechnical drillship, Fugro Explorer.

For laboratory testing and reporting services Fugro will draw on its expertise from Norfolk, VA and Houston, TX in the USA as well as Wallingford (UK) and Nootdorp (Netherlands). Prior to the contract awards Fugro carried out geoconsulting desktop studies and geotechnical ground truthing for Ørsted.

Ed Saade, president of Fugro USA, said: “We strongly support the growing offshore wind development activity here in the USA. It fits directly with our overall strategy for coastal zone management activity and coordination between industry, government and academia.”

Site investigations have begun at the end of November and are expected to continue for three months.