DenAr Awarded Contract for Site Investigation at Marmara Sea Offshore Wind Farm

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 5, Turkish marine engineering services company DenAr Ocean Engineering Services was awarded a contract by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources for geophysical and geotechnical site investigation at the Marmara Sea offshore wind farm, project number NCS-01. The contract covers two potential offshore wind development areas in the Marmara Sea, with scope of work including subsea geophysical survey, seismic survey, geotechnical testing, and sample analysis. The contractor has completed the offshore operation risk assessment meeting and is organizing three specialized vessels to carry out the winter survey campaign.

Under the contract scope, DenAr will deploy multibeam bathymetry, side-scan sonar, sub-bottom profiler, and magnetometer survey equipment to conduct seabed topography and geological surveys at the two areas. The project also includes unexploded ordnance detection and ultra-high-resolution seismic survey, with the data to be used to identify seabed geological conditions and potential obstacles at the sites.

The geotechnical investigation will be carried out by DenAr's DP2-capable vessel Denar Explorer, with main tasks including seabed cone penetration testing (CPT), subsea sediment sampling, and subsequent laboratory testing. The contractor will also prepare geophysical and geotechnical investigation reports based on field survey and laboratory test results.

DenAr has organized three vessels—Denar Explorer, Denar Surveyor, and Salvor—to participate in the offshore survey. According to relevant navigational warnings, operations at the two survey areas in the Marmara Sea are scheduled from November 7, 2026 to May 1, 2027. The contractor's previously published project recruitment information indicates that the overall project duration is expected to be approximately six months, with offshore survey operations of about 60 days.

This week, the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, project consultancy IMDC, and DenAr's offshore operations team held a hazard and operability (HAZOP) analysis meeting aboard the Denar Explorer to review the geophysical survey, geotechnical sampling, vessel coordination, and winter construction arrangements. Following the completion of this meeting, the project has entered the offshore site operations preparation phase.

NCS-01 is part of the offshore wind support project implemented by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, funded by EU pre-accession assistance and implemented with World Bank participation. The project also includes independent work packages such as wind resource and ocean meteorological measurements, techno-economic feasibility analysis, grid connection assessment, and environmental and social constraints studies.