E.ON has filed an application to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) for the removal of Rampion’s met mast lattice structure, which disconnected from the platform and collapsed into the water in 2014.
According to the document, the structure will be removed by Fugro Seacore, now one of Fugro GeoServices’ units, as the company integrated its geotechnical units last year. The company installed the met mast at the Rampion offshore wind farm site in 2012.
“Fugro Seacore has to replace the Rampion metmast facility that we installed a few years ago. We plan to do the replacement in 2016. It is an ongoing contractual requirement and not a new award,” the company said in an email statement to Offshore WIND.
The lattice structure is lying on the seabed next to the Rampion met mast platform, and will be recovered by ROVs and divers working with a vessel-mounted recovery crane barge, E.ON said in the application.
The Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler unit (ADCP) located near the met mast platform, which was disconnected when the lattice collapsed, will also be recovered and replaced.
Even though the works should last for about a week, E.ON cited the period between February and July of 2016 as a time-frame in which they will be carried out, taking into account that this kind of activity requires very favourable weather conditions.