EOLOS Floating LiDAR Solutions has been awarded three of the four lots in the Dutch government’s tender for wind and ocean site assessments at two new offshore wind areas. This is the largest single project award for EOLOS to date, according to the Spain-based company, which recently also secured a contract in Japan.
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has selected EOLOS for turnkey wind, metocean and environmental site assessments at zones 6 and 7 of the development roadmap for 2030-2040.
The tender was divided into four lots, three of which were awarded to EOLOS and one to Fugro.
The Dutch government revealed plans to increase the country’s offshore wind targets to approximately 50 GW in 2040 and approximately 70 GW in 2050 last year. The targets beyond 2031 will be officially established in the upcoming National Energy System Plan, which will detail the capacities for offshore wind energy in 2035, 2040 and 2050.
According to information on RVO’s website, the new areas planned for post-2030 offshore wind farms are larger and located farther out in the North Sea. The government plans for offshore wind beyond 2030 include not only the deployment of higher capacities of offshore wind but also the integration of other systems, including green hydrogen production plants and energy hubs and interconnections.
In a press release from 28 February, EOLOS said the company’s contract involves the supply, installation, and operation of a floating LiDAR system and metocean data at sites within the Dutch Offshore Wind Farm Zones Investigation Area (IA).
The first floating LiDAR will be deployed in early summer 2024 and the other two are expected to be in place before the end of this year. The LiDARs will remain at their respective sites for 24 to 36 months.
In addition to floating LiDARs, a full suite of seabed-mounted environmental sensors covering hydrophones, water quality and current profilers will be deployed.
“This deployment of additional seabed sensors complements the ones in the buoy providing a robust and comprehensive way to fully characterise RVO sites from a wind, met ocean and environmental point of view,” said Jordi Puigcorbé , Director of Innovation and Strategy at EOLOS.
The Spanish company and its strategic partner in Japan, Windpal, have also signed a contract for a floating LiDAR project to support Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation’s offshore wind plans.
For EOLOS, this will be the first floating LiDAR campaign and local offshore validation in Japan.
The initial part of the project in Japan includes comprehensive floating LiDAR system verification at the Mutsu Ogawara test site to allow for the full demonstration of Stage 3 performance in Japanese conditions, including wind, metocean, environmental and turbulence intensity.
After this, the floating LiDAR will be deployed for a twelve-month measurement campaign for Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation.
“EOLOS will provide its floating technology and digital data services insight for offering the most complete and sustainable wind, metocean and environmental measurement services. Strong focus will be on the full capture and understanding of specific Japanese conditions involving complete set of sensors and the use of advanced Machine Learning methodologies to derive the Turbulence Intensity from floating lidar devices,” EOLOS said in a press release announcing the new contract in Japan.
“Following the partnership formed in 2023 with EOLOS, Windpal will provide its proven expertise in marine and wind offshore operations using its JV Wind Energy Partners to deploy, monitor and ensure flawless project execution, maximum performance, establishing permanent contact with customer and local stakeholders.”