US East Coast Wind & Metocean Survey Completed Ahead of Central Atlantic Lease Sale

July 24, 2024, by Adnan Memija

TGS has completed a wind and metocean data collection project along the US East Coast, which the company describes as the largest in the region. The campaign involved deploying and simultaneously operating five offshore LiDAR buoys covering nearly 600 kilometres from Massachusetts to the Virginia/North Carolina border.

TGS East Coast — *Map indicating the locations of LiDAR deployments in the TGS multi-client wind and metocean campaign offshore the US East Coast in relation to wind farms and lease areas;* *Source: TGS*

Data were collected from July 2022 through July 2024. All campaigns were conducted under the TGS multi-client approach, allowing multiple customers to subscribe to the same floating LiDAR data.

The company used the collected data to bias-correct its high-resolution Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model simulations. Both the quality-controlled measurement data and the bias-corrected NWP model data are being utilised by developers to inform and refine their bidding strategies for the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) upcoming Central Atlantic offshore wind lease auction.

The five deployments were completed in partnership with EOLOS with an average LiDAR data availability of 94 per cent at a 140-metre measurement height, said TGS.

A range of wind and metocean data was collected at each site, including wind speed and direction across a range of turbine hub heights, wave heights, and ocean current data across the full water column.

Additionally, four out of five buoys were equipped with in-air acoustic recording devices to monitor bird and bat activity, seabed-mounted sensors to measure additional metocean parameters, and whale and porpoise acoustic monitors to identify marine mammal vocalisations.

Data were continuously acquired and quality-controlled throughout the deployment, with customers receiving daily access via the Wind AXIOM platform, TGS’s site evaluation, and wind data analytics tool.

“The combined measurement campaign and its baseline model derivatives are designed with longevity in mind, providing a premier baseline dataset for wind resource analysis for future lease sales and project construction over the next 15 years,” said TGS.

The Central Atlantic offshore wind lease sale auction is set to be launched next month, according to a recent announcement made by the US Department of Interior (DOI).

Two areas are to be auctioned by BOEM potentially generating up to 6.3 GW of renewable energy.