TGS has announced a new campaign for offshore wind and metocean measurement in Morro Bay, off the U.S. West Coast in California.
The campaign aims to enhance the understanding of offshore conditions across three wind energy lease areas in Morro Bay by calibrating TGS wind models with observational data. Supplied by Eolos, the buoy is equipped with sensors designed to capture measurements of wind, metocean, and environmental data. Key metrics include wind speed and direction at turbine hub height, wave heights, ocean current data across the full water column, and monitoring of birds, bats, and fish. The buoy will be deployed in an area with an average depth of 1,000 metres for three years.
The data gathered will offer insights throughout the floating wind farm development lifecycle. This includes environmental impact assessments and technical decisions such as turbine selection, layout optimisation, foundation design, and operations and maintenance planning. Additionally, it will enable more accurate modelling of capital expenditures (CAPEX), operational expenditures (OPEX), potential energy production, and grid requirements. High-quality ocean current measurements and tidal information collected over this period will be valuable for grid connection planning, while accurate atmospheric turbulence intensity observations will provide key inputs for wind farm energy yield.
