Spanish company Eolos Floating LiDAR Solutions is preparing to deploy two of its FLS200 floating LiDAR buoys at two sites offshore Scotland, where partners Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy plan to build floating wind farms .
The LiDAR buoys will be installed this month out of the Peterhead port, where Eolos has engaged ASCO to provide all related port services, and will stay at the offshore project sites for at least twelve months until the wind measurement campaign is completed.
One floating LiDAR will be installed north of Peterhead, where the 900 MW Broadshore floating wind farm is proposed to be built (offshore Fraserburgh), while the other will travel to the waters southeast of Peterhead to the spot where Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy plan to install 1.2 GW of floating wind capacity through their Bellrock project (offshore Aberdeen).
The Broadshore project was initially planned to have a capacity of up to 500 MW. This was later increased to 900 MW as the plans for the turbine layout were reworked using larger, more efficient wind turbines, according to BlueFloat Energy.
The two companies secured the sites in the ScotWind seabed leasing round , together with one more that they are developing in partnership with Ørsted.
In December 2022, BlueFloat Energy signed a five-year global frame agreement for turn-key floating LiDAR campaign services with Eolos, with an immediate contract award of eight campaigns and the first deployments slated for the beginning of this year.
For BlueFloat, the frame agreement brought assured volume and delivery commitments, reducing supply chain uncertainty and providing efficiencies throughout the project execution process, according to the developer.
The agreement also represents a milestone for Eolos as this was the largest single-volume transaction for the floating LiDAR provider to date.