Fugro says it plans to launch its new SEAWATCH Wind LiDAR Buoy this week.
The new buoy is designed to measure the speed and direction of wind across the diameter of wind turbine rotors in a profile up to 300 meters high, while additional oceanographic sensors measure ocean waves and current profiles, Fugro explains.
The company says the new buoy is the result of a joint industry research and development project that incorporated offshore and wind technology expertise from Norwegian universities, research institutes, energy company Statoil and Fugro OCEANOR.
Validation of the Wind LiDAR Buoy took place at an exposed location off the coast of Norway. The tests were designed to compare wind data collected by the buoy to data from a similar LiDAR located on land and from a fixed met tower.
Wind velocities up to 20 meters per second and wave heights up to five meters were recorded. The average deviation in wind-speed measurements between the Wind LiDAR Buoy and the reference stations was less than 2%, according to Fugro.
The buoy is built on the SEAWATCH Wavescan platform and includes the GENI controller, a power management unit and the ZephIR LiDAR.
