Roughly 40km south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, a wind farm project called Mayflower Wind is being developed by a joint venture of EDPR Offshore North America and Shell New Energies US. The offshore wind project was chosen in 2019 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to supply 804MW of capacity. It is expected to start-up in 2025.
Dutch multinational public company Fugro, the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, has been contracted to carry out the geophysical surveys at the Mayflower Wind offshore wind project site as well as another one in the United States called Atlantic Shores. The company will analyze and collect comprehensive information about the places to facilitate the construction and infrastructure plans of the turbines.
Atlantic Shores is a joint venture of Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables North America. Over the next decade, it plans to build multiple projects within a 183,000ha lease area offshore of New Jersey. Overall, it has the potential to generate 2.5GW of wind energy when complete.
The offshore wind market has improved and Fugro’s 2019 financial results prove it. The adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin of the core business rose from 1.9% to 4.2% – the increase was driven by the performance improvement of the marine market. Meanwhile, the revenue of the core business rose by 2.7%, while revenue growth in the marine market was much higher at 5.7%. This increase was driven by hydrography and site characterization for offshore wind farms.
Fugro CEO Mark Heine said:
I am pleased to announce the second year of recovery with continued revenue growth and margin expansion and strongly improved free cash flow. Revenue growth of 2.7% was modest but came on top of a very strong increase last year and was impacted by our focus on profitability and cash flow.
We have become a much more resilient company. By now, around 50% of our revenue is generated in offshore wind, hydrography, and infrastructure. In a rapidly changing world, there are ample opportunities for us to contribute to the safe, sustainable and efficient development and operation of our clients’ assets.
Most projects were in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Another recent contract Fugro secured, in addition to the one in Massachusetts, was a contract for geotechnical site investigation at an offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
