Wind farm project buoys start operating offshore western Britain

HAYLE, U.K.— Two wind measurement buoys are operating in the Celtic Sea, in waters between Cornwall, western England and South Wales, as part of a planned floating wind turbine development.

The LiDAR (floating laser imaging, detection and range) systems will provide data to assist the floating offshore wind (FLOW) in the Celtic Sea, where the U.K.’s Crown Estate is targeting up to 4 GW of new energy capacity by 2035.

Celtic Sea Power is leading the project under the Cornwall FLOW Accelerator program (part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund).

The WINDSEA floating LiDAR systems, supplied by Akrocean, are positioned about 60 miles offshore, employing laser technology to measure wind speeds and direction, and they should remain offshore for a year. The buoys, both 5.1 m tall and 2.4 m wide, were deployed earlier this week from Falmouth, southern Cornwall by Keynvor MorLift.

The data should form the basis for a broad-scale wind resource model for the region.