Spatial characterization of seabed environmental conditions and geotechnical properties for the development of marine renewable energy in Sweden

Abstract

Although knowledge of seabed properties is of high importance in selecting sites and determining technical designs and solutions for renewable energy offshore installations, it is often overlooked in marine spatial planning, owing to the absence of appropriate spatial analysis of these conditions. Identification and quantification of seabed conditions and geotechnical properties in finding safe and environmentally sustainable areas for installations of offshore renewable energy are therefore presented, using information produced in marine geological mapping. Six seabed environmental and 13 geotechnical parameters, which can be extracted from existing marine geological information and are of importance in analysing environmental conditions and planning designs are identified and presented, in addition to the suitability of various installation techniques for different areas on the Swedish seabed. Geographical information systems (GIS) are used to geospatially evaluate the different parameters in finding suitable locations and cable routes for a wave energy plant with gravity and/or suction caisson foundations. The presented categories and ranges of the environmental and geotechnical values for the various parameters have the possibility to be improved as new data are produced from future mapping. The parameters identified and presented here are valuable as they can be incorporated into multi-parameter evaluations for optimal site selection of different offshore installations. Supplementary material: The open geological information is available at http://www.sgu.se