Coordination of desktop and field studies for the Princess Elisabeth Zone offshore wind concessions
A competitive tendering procedure was introduced by the Belgian Federal Government for the allocation of domain concessions for offshore electricity production installations in the Belgian part of the North Sea (Princess Elisabeth Zone, PEZ). Prior to the tendering procedure, all necessary preliminary studies regarding the location of the intended production facilities, including determining the size and number of lots, were carried out and the results of the studies were certified and made available to the candidate bidders through a publicly accessible database. IMDC was appointed by FPS Economy, as coordinator of the preliminary studies. The Princess Elisabeth Zone is 285 km² and will bring 3.15-3.5 GW.
IMDC performed following tasks:
- Co-determination of the strategy for determining the number of lots, including an LCOE impact assessment study;
- The execution of a data-gap analysis desktop study (needs analysis);
- Assisting with the procurement of the desktop studies: the writing of the Scope of Works, employer requirements, definition of selection and award criteria and offer evaluation. For following desktop studies:
- UXO desktop study,
- Archaeological desktop study,
- Geological Desktop Study, Geological Ground Model and Geotechnical Parameter Report
- Seabed mobility study,
- Metocean desktop study and hindcast modelling,
- Wind Resource Assessment,
- Environmental Impact Assessment;
- Coordination and follow-up and quality control of the consultants, from Kick-off-Meeting until review of the desktop studies and public presentations;
- Assisting with the procurement of the field studies:
- drawing up the Scope of Works and (geotechnical) location plans (see Figure 1),
- technical specifications,
- lab test strategy and Bill of Quantities,
- evaluation of the submitted offers and participation in negotiation meetings,
- coordination with the certification body and contract preparation.
For following field studies:
- Geophysical survey,
- Geotechnical survey and lab testing,
- Metocean monitoring (floating IDAR technology);
- Preparing of the Environmental Natura2000 permission for the field studies:
- Coordination and follow-up of the field studies, including:
- Review of method statements,
- providing customer representatives on board,
- HSSE support,
- Back-office support and contract management,
- quality control, o review of all deliverables;
- Coordination and follow up of the lab testing (offshore and onshore):
- review of lab test schedules and lab test strategy,
- lab audits,
- providing test conditions and input parameters,
- analysis of test results to determine input parameters for subsequent tests,
- close follow-up of test performance and guidance to labs,
- develop site specific test method statements to guarantee representative geotechnical test results;
- Interface and time management between the different tenders and studies;
- Developing the PEZ Digital Database for storage of the results of each preliminary study, including operational maintenance of the database (see Figure 2). Maintenance of Digital Database is ongoing until 2030;
- Based on obtained results, drafting a site description report for the Princess Elisabeth Zone;
- Coordination and interface with the certification body;
- Assisting in coordinating with key stakeholders (e.g. Navy, Flemish Hydrography, Archaeological heritage instance);
- Presentation of the results during public workshops.
Figure 1 - GIS visualisation in PEZ Digital Database: geotechnical and metocean monitoring locations – background: bathymetric survey 2022 
Figure 2: Homepage Digital Database Princess Elisabeth Zone developed by IMDC