Positive
Project advancing - milestone achieved
Low Impact
Minor progress or informational
SSEN Transmission's six-month offshore survey campaign for the Shetland 2 HVDC Link began in late February 2026, running through to summer 2026. The campaign is being delivered by Norwegian contractor Reach Subsea, with geotechnical sub-scope (seabed characterisation, sediment analysis, core penetration testing) sub-contracted to GeoForce Technical Services (part of Oceanscan / Venterra Group, announced 25 March 2026). Survey areas span the south-west and west of Shetland and run between Shetland and the Aberdeenshire coast, gathering seabed morphology, sediment structure, benthic characterisation and habitat mapping data along the prospective ~330 km, 2 GW subsea HVDC route. Marine survey licences for the offshore investigations were in place by November 2025. The survey outputs feed directly into route optimisation, installation design and the marine licence application planned for 2027.