With a consented capacity of 1.4GW, Sofia will be one of the world's biggest offshore wind farms; Fugro will provide geophysical and geotechnical services over the project's 220km export cable corridor, in what is believed to be one of the longest cable route surveys ever performed for an offshore wind farm, as well as further works on the wind farm array.

The objective of Fugro's site investigation is to comprehensively characterise subsurface conditions along the cable route corridor to better understand the benthic ecology and offshore archaeology of the site, and to enable detailed design for the proposed wind farm, which is located 195km off the coast of north-east England.

The site investigation will include surveys performed from five state-of-the-art vessels and will be complemented with a full suite of conventional and advanced laboratory testing. As well as Fugro Pioneer, geophysical survey data will be acquired using the Fugro Frontier and Fugro Seeker; two of Fugro's geotechnical vessels will then follow to provide drilling, and seabed sampling and in situ testing.

Once the Geo-data is acquired, Fugro will produce a ground model for innogy that will provide standardised datasets and interpretation in a clearly identifiable and easy-to-access format.

"For Fugro, this project is an exciting opportunity for multiple vessels and multidisciplinary project teams to work together to provide an excellent service to innogy and support the Sofia team in achieving its objectives from the outset," said Sally Dalrymple, senior project manager, Fugro.