Prospective floating offshore wind developer Cerulean Winds has commissioned 72 digital aerial surveys for its planned Aspen, Beech and Cedar projects in the UK North Sea.
HiDef Surveying conducted the program between April 2023 and March 2025, using a fixed-wing aircraft fitted with high-resolution digital surveying technology.
These compiled ecological data across a 2,784-sq-km area.
Cerulean Winds will incorporate the findings in environmental assessments for the offshore wind projects’ consenting phase and to ensure compliance with UK and European environmental legislation.
In addition, the results should help optimize turbine placement and infrastructure planning.
Cerulean Winds will first submit an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the 1-GW Aspen project. All three developments, once constructed, could feature up to 300 turbines.
In January of this year, Cerulean Winds named Haventus’ new Ardersier Energy Transition facility near Inverness, Scotland, as the deployment port for a 3-GW+ floating offshore wind development in the UK central North Sea. The Ardersier facility, with £400 million ($492.4 million) of funding, will be Scotland's largest offshore wind assembly center on the North Sea coast.
