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Breaking new ground for onshore site investigations

Site investigation surveys to understand landfall conditions
for our offshore wind farms were completed successfully this month. Comprehensive aerial, geophysical, geotechnical and borehole sampling data is now being processed to help us further refine the design of the project.
Over a seven-week campaign, the team collected data about the unique geology and soil conditions in the area where our proposed export cable could reach land and travel onwards to connect into the electricity grid, powering Victorian homes and businesses with clean energy.

Specialist equipment was used to understand the hardness and soil properties of the subsurface, which will be used to help design a suitable landfall methodology for our projects.

Sincere thanks to the Gunaikurnai cultural heritage team, who worked with our contractors ALA to check for cultural heritage artifacts along the way.
Cultural heritage crew assessing test pits for cultural heritage artefacts
Cultural heritage crew assessing test pits for cultural heritage artefacts
We’d also like to thank Gippsland Water, DEECA, Parks Victoria, and Wellington Shire Council for their guidance and support in obtaining necessary permits and approvals to make these surveys happen, and the many curious locals and visitors who dropped by for a chat! 

Leading with innovation

CPT Australia’s Unimog machine on site at McGaurans beach. Here it is deploying Fugro’s HFM technology to conduct thermal conductivity studies.
CPT Australia’s Unimog machine on site at McGaurans beach. Here it is deploying Fugro’s HFM technology to conduct thermal conductivity studies.
Our contractor Fugro deployed their innovative Heat Flow Module (HFM) system from CPT Australia’s Unimog machine, to undertake cone penetration testing for these surveys. In addition, use of satellite communication systems during the survey enabled office processing of geophysical and geotechnical data in near real time, despite the remote location.

Use of the HFM system enabled us to accelerate the collection of high-quality thermal data, which is critical to understand the maximum power transmission capacity of our export cable, the potential size of our wind farms, and the amount of power they can feed into the grid.
Michael Campbell, Ørsted’s Senior Site Investigation Project Manager said that instead of waiting months to drill, collect samples, and sending them to a laboratory for testing, the Unimog/HFM solution was able to do this within 24 hours.

“We were able to assess the thermal properties of the subsurface in situ, under the most realistic conditions possible, minimising risks associated with reproducing results in a laboratory using samples that have been extracted, transported, and potentially damaged or altered along the way.”

“The ability to run a real time feedback loop between the data acquisition and processing teams is a game changer for such a remote site and has ensured we get the highest quality data possible,” said Michael.

The project team will now use the data collected to further refine and inform our project design.