Up to five different offshore wind measurement devices will be subjected to an extensive testing and validation against the meteorological masts at three North Sea Round 3 sites. This campaign is the latest project from the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA), the Carbon Trust's industry collaborative RD&D programme, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
OWA partners RWE, Mainstream Renewable Power (Mainstream) and ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) have made their North Sea offshore sites, IJmuiden, Neart na Gaoithe and East Anglia respectively, available to suppliers of floating offshore wind measurement devices for testing and validation of measurement data. As part of the campaign, the floating LiDAR suppliers will receive access to the site location, data from the meteorological mast, in addition to an analysis of the floating LiDAR captured data in comparison to the met masts by an independent third party according to the OWA Roadmap for commercial acceptance of floating LiDAR technologies (OWA Floating LiDAR Roadmap).
The floating LiDARs will be provided by manufacturers ranging from start-up companies to mid-sized corporations from different countries including:
- EOLOS LiDAR Buoy of EOLOS, Spain – planned to deploy at IJmuiden
- FLiDAR of FLiDAR, Belgium – deployed already at Neart na Gaoithe
- WindSentinel of AXYS, Canada – planned to deploy at East Anglia
- Up to two further devices to be trialled at IJmuiden and East Anglia
