Norway-based energy data and intelligence provider, TGS, has started a multi-client offshore wind measurement campaign by deploying EOLOS’s floating LiDAR buoy in the New York Bight area off the US East Coast.
The multi-client approach offers offshore wind stakeholders the added benefits of reduced development costs and timelines, said TGS, as the company’s deployed floating LiDAR will provide data and insights on a subscription basis to many customers within the region with the goal to enhance the knowledge and reduce wind flow modeling uncertainties.
The data will be acquired continuously throughout a two-year deployment campaign, and the data stream will be quality-controlled and made available to customers daily. In addition to the LiDAR wind speed measurements, the data package will include metocean and environmental data such as significant wave heights, ocean current profile, and acoustic monitoring of whales, dolphins, birds, and bats, TGS said.
According to the company, the project will enhance and further validate the TGS’s expansive high-resolution coverage of numerical weather prediction (NWP) model data and, together with real measurements, will enable the most accurate forecasting of the wind energy potential in the New York Bight area.
The wind energy model, produced in collaboration with Vaisala, covered a 400,000-square-kilometre area off the East Coast, extending from Massachusetts to North Carolina, and was selected to inform and enhance wind resource assessment in the New York Bight lease areas .
The data to be gathered by EOLOS’s floating LiDAR will be delivered via the Wind AXIOM platform which allows offshore wind developers and stakeholders to constrain the most influential factors affecting the viability of offshore wind projects, using wind models and measurements to answer questions related to energy output, annual revenue, supply fluctuations, and more, said TGS.
“ Wind model inputs are complemented by a range of cost-influencing factors, creating a tool that improves the quality and speed of decisions by offering a configurable experience for various participants in the offshore wind market, ” said TGS.