Lowestoft’s Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) (www.cefas.co.uk) has won a contract to measure offshore weather and sea conditions for the Norfolk Vanguard project (being proposed by Swedish energy group Vattenfall).

It will explore the effect of oceanographic processes on the turbine structures of the Vattenfall offshore wind farm, which will have a capacity of 1.8GW.

David Pearce, principal investigator for Cefas, said: “The UK’s world-leading offshore wind industry is growing rapidly, and Cefas will play an important role in that growth. We’re delighted to win this major contract with Vattenfall to support Norfolk Vanguard’s sustainable development.”

Zoe Roberts of Vattenfall said: “A key element of developing any offshore wind farm is understanding the meteorological and oceanographic regime at the development site.

“The data collected during this three-year campaign will ensure that structures are strong enough to survive in the offshore environment but not over-engineered.”

Vattenfall says, at full capacity, Norfolk Vanguard will be capable of delivering nearly 2% of the UK’s electricity needs.

The proposed site is 47km off the Norfolk coast at Great Yarmouth; Vattenfall expects to apply for consent in 2018 and hopes to begin construction in the early 2020s.