Aberdeen Uni to Monitor Dolphins & Porpoises at Beatrice OWF

From 15 February to 15 March, Aberdeen University will deploy seabed-mounted scientific equipment at the Beatrice offshore wind farm site, as well as outside its borders in the Moray Firth, to monitor marine mammals.

Moray First Marine will carry out the deployment on behalf of the university by using the Coral Wind vessel, which will install sound recording equipment at and around the site by fastening it to the seabed with moorings.

The moorings will support sound recorders and acoustic loggers which will record echolocation clicks of dolphins and porpoises.

Also, from by 15 February, Delta Marine’s Voe Earl vessel is set to deploy four special marks and four cardinal buoys to mark the construction site boundary at the Beatrice offshore wind farm site.

The GBP 2.6 billion Beatrice offshore wind farm project has been given the green light for construction by owners SSE (40%), Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) (35%) and Red Rock Power Ltd. (25%) after reaching financial close on 23 May 2016.

The Beatrice site is located 13.5km at its closest point from the Caithness Coast in the Outer Moray Firth, with its centre located approximately 25km south south-east of Wick. The wind farm will comprise 84 Siemens 7MW turbines.

Offshore WIND Staff