TerraSond Completes First Geophysical Survey for Mayflower Wind
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TerraSond Completes First Geophysical Survey for Mayflower Wind

TerraSond, an Acteon company, has completed a high-resolution geophysical survey for Mayflower Wind, a joint venture between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDPR Offshore North America LLC. The two-month campaign, which began in July 2019, surveyed an area, 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA, that can support up to 1,600 MW of offshore wind. The wind farm is scheduled to deliver energy in the mid-2020s and has the potential to power up to 680,000 homes. The project is TerraSond’s first with Mayflower Wind.

High-resolution Geophysical Data

TerraSond acquired high-resolution geophysical data using a complete suite of equipment in water depths from 35 to 65m. A sub-bottom profiler, a medium-penetration seismic system, a side-scan sonar, a multibeam echosounder, a magnetometer and passive acoustic monitoring sensor were deployed from the Geosea DP2 multipurpose support vessel. The acquired data is now being processed for delivery in November.

“We used our offshore-wind-sector expertise to deliver a geophysical survey for Mayflower Wind,” says Pedro Regino, TerraSond project manager. “As always, we put safety and the environment first. The environmental monitoring plan, which included protected species observers and passive acoustic monitoring operators, resulted in no environmental impacts or harm to marine life, successfully meeting Mayflower Wind’s safety ambitions.”

Shell’s New Energies Business

Shell aims to make electricity a significant part of its business, from generating it to buying, selling and supplying electricity directly to customers. Its New Energies business is seeking to leverage the company’s strengths in fast-growing and commercial parts of the energy industry, such as offshore wind in the USA.

Shell first entered the onshore wind business in the USA in 2001. Today, it has interests in four onshore wind power projects in North America and one offshore wind farm in Europe. Its share of the energy capacity from these projects is more than 290 MW. Shell also has a 20% interest in the Blauwwind consortium that will build and operate the Borssele 3 and 4 wind farms off the Dutch coast. These wind farms will have a total installed capacity of 731.5 MW, enough to power about 825,000 Dutch households.

 

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