Ørsted, the global offshore wind developer, announced the deployment of a specialized buoy designed to measure wind and wave conditions at its Ocean Wind project. The offshore wind farm is currently planned for location about 10 miles off the coast of Atlantic City.
The New Jersey lease area has a total size of 160,480 acres, with the potential to accommodate more than 1,000 MW of offshore wind — which could power up to 500,000 New Jersey homes.
AXYS FLiDAR (Floating LiDAR) WindSentinel systems accurately measure wind speed and wind direction offshore at turbine hub-height and across the blade span for cost-effective wind resource assessments.
The AXYS FLiDAR WindSentinel is a floating LiDAR device that will measure wind speed and direction to help determine the best locations and positions for wind turbines on the federally leased area. Floating LiDAR is an innovative technology that integrates a LiDAR (light detection and ranging) on a moored buoy to provide accurate and reliable data on wind speed, wind direction, and turbulence at turbine hub-height.
“We are pleased to partner with AXYS Technologies and utilize their innovative technology to retrieve mission critical data,” said Thomas Brostrøm, President, Ørsted North America. “This is another important milestone for the project that will bring us closer to having the first utility scale offshore wind farm in New Jersey.”
The AXYS FLiDAR WindSentinel buoy is outfitted with a range of other sensors to measure surface wind speed and direction, directional waves, ocean currents, tide, salinity, water temperature, atmospheric pressure and air temperature — all of which help give a comprehensive data set of environmental conditions useful for wind resource assessment, turbine siting, and contract management data, and site weather character development.
The AXYS FLiDAR WindSentinel operates autonomously, and is powered by its own renewable energy system. Technical experts from both companies were on hand at the event to provide information about the Ocean Wind project, as well as the FLiDAR WindSentinel buoy, which was launched out of Gardner’s Basin in Atlantic City.
“AXYS Technologies is delighted to work with the Ocean Wind team to support the development phase of their project,” said PS Reilly, AXYS President & CEO. “This FLiDAR WindSentinel system will provide them with reliable and accurate data that will help to ensure project success.”
Filed Under: News, Offshore wind
