Mojo Maritime Ltd, the Falmouth-based marine renewable energy experts, has secured funding to develop, build and test their low motion floating platform for offshore LiDAR measurements at sea.
Concept development and tank testing of the platform performed during 2013 has resulted in a solid design, capable of withstanding the most challenging offshore conditions.
The platform is designed as semi-submersible with adjustable draft ballast, thereby simplifying installation compared with spar-buoy designs, whilst improving low-motion characteristics. Deployment of the platform and motion testing is planned at the Falmouth Bay test site (FaBTest) in autumn 2014. Allowing for possible design optimisations, the platform would be redeployed in early 2015 to carry out LiDAR validation against a fixed met mast.
In order to accelerate the project and ensure the floating platform design is ready for commercialisation late 2015, Mojo Maritime has been awarded £328,000 of European support from the ERDF-grant for business investment (GBI) scheme based on a total project value of £728,000.
Richard Parkinson, Managing Director of Mojo Maritime, said: “We are pleased our efforts to drive the marine renewable energy industry forward are recognised by the GBI. This funding allows us to cover a substantial part of the development costs and accelerates the development of this project.”
As offshore wind farms move further offshore, meteorological (met) masts required to measure the potential of a site’s resources become increasingly expensive to design, build and install, thereby driving up total project costs and increasing early project risk. Floating platforms fitted with LiDAR measurement equipment offer significant cost reductions in terms of capital and operational expenditure. Being secured by moorings rather than seabed fixings, the platform has minimal environmental impact and can be relocated using inexpensive assets.
Press release, February 27, 2014; Image: cornwallmarine