During a recent two week offshore operation, FLiDAR chartered one vessel to serve three clients. The Pole Star began its journey in Oban, Scotland, first sailing to the NAREC met mast to pick up one of the FLiDAR buoys which had just finished a post validation campaign for Mainstream Renewable Power’s Neart na Gaoithe project, completing a wind measurement campaign.
In less than a day the buoy and the double mooring system had been collected. The vessel then sailed to Fécamp in Northern France where the buoy was deployed offshore next to the recently installed met mast of the future offshore windfarm of Fécamp. The buoy is undergoing a pre-validation, after which it will be moved to carry out a measurement campaign on the proposed Calvados offshore wind farm site. The entire deployment operation took no more than 10 hours. The Pole Star then set sail for the Irish Sea for its third and final task. The FLiDAR buoy owned by DONG Energy was moved from its measurement position on Walney Extension offshore wind farm to the West of Duddon Sands met mast for a validation period. The collection of the buoy and mooring was done in one day and redeployed the following day. The hours in between were sufficient for some rapid preventive maintenance on the buoy while it was still on board of the vessel. The combined operation significantly reduced the costs, which were divided between the three clients. FLiDAR staff were present during each intervention.