Ossian Offshore Wind Farm Limited (OWFL) has completed a 24-months of digital aerial surveys. HiDef Aerial Surveying carried out the surveys from March 2021 to February 2023, across the Ossian array area which is located approximately 80 km southeast of the Aberdeenshire coast.
The monthly surveys included an 8km buffer area and took place using four planes along transects at 2.5km spacing. The survey consisted of 330 hours of flight time across 4,050 square km, larger than Angus and Fife combined. Each aircraft is equipped with high-definition camera equipment that captures live footage which is then assessed by ornithology and marine mammal experts. So far, the team have analysed over 16 million images following the survey. Data collected will be vital for understanding the distribution and habits of key ornithology and marine mammal species across the proposed floating wind farm’s array area and surrounding area.
Last year, the Ossian project completed a full geophysical and benthic survey of the project area. The data collected informed a review of the potential wind farm capacity. Subject to undertaking the necessary further environmental and technical assessments, the site could be used to generate the increased capacity of up to 3.6GW.
