In collaboration with RWE, Eneco and Fugro Oceanor ECN has performed a Fugro Oceanor Seawatch floating LiDAR validation trial near the offshore meteorological mast IJmuiden, located in the North sea about 75km from the Dutch shore.
ECN confirms, based on the study, that the Fugro Oceanor Seawatch floating LiDAR is in the pre-commercial stage according to the Offshore Wind Accelerator roadmap for the commercial acceptance of floating LiDAR technology. Moreover it was in this particular case demonstrated that ¾ of the deviation of the floating LiDAR with the mast is due to the used technology (LiDAR) and ¼ due to marine conditions. It also appeared that atmospheric turbulence is one of the main drivers for deviations with the mast. In addition, ECN has demonstrated with this study that a static LiDAR can well be used as reference for a floating LiDAR instead of a mast. The main difference is a higher uncertainty, as the static LiDAR needs first be validated against a mast. This uncertainty of the floating LiDAR wind speed ranges from 3.6% to 6.8%.
