The first commercial offshore wind measurement campaign using floating LiDAR in European waters has kicked off in the Irish Sea. FLiDAR NV has deployed one of its innovative LiDAR buoys for DONG Energy in the southern East Irish Sea.

DONG Energy, the world’s leading offshore wind developer, selected the FLiDAR equipment due to its high accuracy and cost effective data service. The partnership initially involves a one year measurement campaign in the Irish Sea.

Hugh Yendole at DONG Energy’s Wind business said: “The FLiDAR unit represents another example of how we are looking at technology across the development and construction process to help lower the cost of offshore wind. We are looking forward to seeing the results from the tests in the Irish Sea that will help to inform our potential future projects in the area.”

The General Manager of FLiDAR, Bruce Douglas, said “We are delighted to be delivering low-cost, high-value wind data to DONG Energy. The FLiDAR technology and the ongoing partnership with DONG Energy represent a major break-through for the offshore wind industry, enabling further cost reductions for offshore wind resource assessments”.

The technology has been developed by 3E, global renewable energy consultancy and software services provider, Offshore & Wind Assistance (OWA), the subsidiary of marine contractor Geosea focussing on Operations and Maintenance and Leosphere, the world’s leading LiDAR company.

The FLiDAR equipment consists of a marine buoy equipped with a state-of-the-art buoy-adapted LEOSPHERE WINDCUBE®v2 LiDAR held in a passive mechanical stabilisation system. It has previously been tested and validated in the North Sea and in the Irish Sea (as part of the UK’s Carbon Trust Offshore Wind Accelerator programme). The performance has been analysed and validated by third parties and has been proven to deliver wind data with accuracy equivalent to standard offshore wind measurements.

Press Release, June 7, 2013