But it’s not just about the wind and the water, it’s also about what's underneath the water at the bottom of the sea. To better install the offshore turbines, we need to understand the seabed, what it’s made of and what its properties are if we are to develop this environment in an efficient and sustainable way. Understanding the formation and evolution of the Celtic Seabed is important to the positioning of the offshore wind farms, as it is essentially a giant jigsaw puzzle. So, experts at the University of Plymouth, Dr Martin Stokes and Dr Jenny Gales, are solving the puzzle by working to understand the sea floor and what lays beneath it.
The Celtic Sea spans from just south of St George’s Channel, to the Bristol Channel, out the Isles of Scilly and finally out to the continental shelf edge. The central part of the Celtic Sea is quite flat and relatively shallow, with depths of 90 – 100 metres water depth. But as you get towards the shelf edge you find water depths of up to 200 metres, with big rocky outcrops such as Haig Fras, just off the Isles of Scilly. You can also find mega ridges and we know that an ice sheet used to span across the shelf edge in past history. The differences in seabed strength of these areas are important to understand and will allow our geologists to advise our engineers not only on where and how to anchor the turbines but also to help decide where best to lay the cabling which will ultimately bring the energy back to shore.