Fugro’s SEAWATCH® Wind Lidar Buoy has achieved the highest commercial maturity rating, Stage 3, in accordance with the Carbon Trust Roadmap for the Commercial Acceptance of floating LiDAR technology

Fugro’s floating lidar system is the first in the world to gain this Stage 3 rating, which certifies the SEAWATCH® Wind Lidar Buoy as a primary source of wind resource data to support financial investment decisions for offshore wind farms.

Independent third-party evaluation by DNV and Multiversum GmbH verified Fugro’s SEAWATCH® Wind Lidar Buoy as meeting the highest standards of data availability for commercial offshore wind campaigns. Data accuracy consistently met industry best-practice criteria in verification trials and, in addition, wind speed measurements in classification trials gave consistent results for sensitivity to environmental variables.

Following the first concept studies in 2009, Fugro performed a series of experiments in 2011 in collaboration with Christian Michelsen Research (CMR) to investigate the effect of motion on a profiling wind lidar operating on Fugro’s Wavescan® buoy. Promising results led to the production of the first commercial SEAWATCH® Wind Lidar Buoy in 2013. The Carbon Trust Roadmap was issued that same year and 2 years later the SEAWATCH® Wind Lidar Buoy was type-validated as Stage 2 (pre-commercial) based on a successful offshore met mast validation trial. Since then, more than 50 SEAWATCH® floating lidar systems from Europe to North America and East Asia have generated a comprehensive track record of commercial offshore deployments, characterised by reliability and Geo-data accuracy.

Jørn Erik Norangshol, Fugro’s Director for Monitoring and Forecasting in Norway, said: “In receiving this world-first Stage 3 rating, we acknowledge the support of our offshore wind clients – in particular Ørsted, Eolfi-Shell, Ocean Winds and Iberdrola – who kindly granted access to their measurement Geo-data for third-party assessment. Our floating lidar systems not only delivered reliable and accurate measurement campaigns to our valued clients but also moved the industry a big step forward on the path towards commercial acceptance of floating lidar technology to support investment in offshore wind farms and the wider green energy transition.”