TotalEnergies Kicks Off Offshore Lidar Project in UK and Japan

December 20, 2024, by Adnan Memija

TotalEnergies has commissioned Fraunhofer IWES and Oldbaum to perform lidar-based measurement campaigns in the UK and Japan.

With dual-Doppler scanning lidar technology, two measuring devices are operated synchronously at different onshore locations where they are aligned in such a way that the laser beams cross at a point up to ten kilometres off the coast, returning, potentially, highly accurate information on wind conditions.

To prove this, two measurement campaigns started to compare these data to offshore met mast measurements in order to evaluate the technology’s performance.

As well as wind speed accuracy, the comparison of the measurement methods could reveal advantages in the area of turbulence measurement, said Fraunhofer IWES.

Depending on the range capability and mode of operation, lidar systems have the potential to address all wind energy atmospheric measurement applications, including wind resource and site conditions, according to the company.

Crucially, early studies have shown the potential for remote sensing to provide reliable turbulence intensity data offshore, added Fraunhofer IWES.

Test sites on the British and Japanese shores have been chosen because they are equipped with a meteorological mast at a coastal distance of up to 7 kilometers. The data from these meteorological masts can be used as a reference for dual-scanning lidar technology.

“As the first of its kind in the world, the project will examine the measurement capability of four different manufacturers’ long range scanning lidar systems and provide highly valuable insights into the measurement capability and sensitivity of the measurements to different environmental conditions,” said Julia Gottschall, Fraunhofer IWES chief scientist.

This is achieved by the creation of a novel long-range testing facility in Blyth, the UK, and a parallel test conducted at a shorter-range test facility in Japan.

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Technical and data support is provided by Oldbaum Services, based in Scotland. The company will create the test site in the UK, support machine operation, and system setup to achieve the scientific objectives of the project as described above.

After the preparation of the scientific work plan, the two measurement campaigns in the UK and Japan commenced in August and October 2024, respectively. The project will be running until June 2025.