iXblue selected to conduct future Groix & Belle-Île pilot wind farm geophysical survey

La Ciotat (France), 13/06/2019 – iXblue’s Sea Operations division has been selected by EOLFI, the “Ferme Eolienne Flottante de Groix & Belle-Île” delegated project contactor, to conduct the geophysical survey of the future Groix & Belle-Île pilot wind farm located in the South of Brittany, off the West coast of France. The survey, that began earlier this week, will last for about five days and will be conducted by a dedicated crew of 5 iXblue hydrographic surveyors and geophysicist engineers onboard the company’s own Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) hydrographic research vessel, FeliX.

« Our vessel has been designed and manufactured by our own shipyard and survey division, which means it has been specifically tailored for the particular requirements of MRE operations,” explains Simon Ichstchenko, Survey Business Developer at iXblue. “Thanks to FeliX’ versatility, our crew of highly qualified surveyors have been able to efficiently conduct various types of geophysical surveys that required multiple instruments to be deployed.”

For this particular survey, and in order to precisely measure and characterize the site of the future Groix & Belle-Île pilot wind farm, iXblue is thus using an MBES for high resolution bathymetry, a towed side-scan-sonar for seafloor nature identification, a magnetometer for object detection, a sparker for sediment thickness, as well as iXblue’s own sub bottom profilers, the Echoes 3500 and 10 000, and Gaps pre-calibrated USBL system to get precise positioning of the collected data from towed sensors.

“We needed a detailed mapping of the seafloor and sub-seafloor properties over the future wind farm area in order to optimize design and plan future installation,” states Skander Hili, Geosciences Lead at EOLFI. “iXblue is a reference service provider for the offshore wind sector. Its geophysical surveying experience in French waters is important, and the fact the vessel but also some key geophysical equipment are developed within the iXblue group is an advantage.”

This new contract awarded by EOLFI keeps strengthening the solid reputation earned by iXblue in the field of geophysical surveys, environmental monitoring, as well as unexploded ordnance (UXO) campaigns. With over 100,000 line miles already surveyed worldwide, iXblue’s Sea Operations division has indeed conducted many MRE operations including most of the MRE sites under development in France between Noirmoutier and Dunkerque and also in the Mediterranean sea between Leucate and Marseille.