Fraunhofer IWES has deployed two floating lidar measurement buoys in the North Sea for a year-long meteorological campaign commissioned by Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), the agency said.
The buoys have been operating at designated sites in the German Bight near the Dutch border since early September. According to BSH, the units collect data on wind speed, wind direction, wave conditions and ocean currents. They transmit measurements automatically, while engineers track performance remotely each day. The agency said all incoming data undergoes continuous checks for quality and plausibility.
Stephan Stone of Fraunhofer IWES said the institute was pleased to support the latest monitoring effort. “We are delighted to be conducting another measurement campaign of this kind for BSH and thus making a significant contribution to the expansion of renewable energies,” he said.
The data gathered will contribute to the design, planning and modelling of future offshore wind farms. BSH said Fraunhofer IWES has carried out four comparable campaigns in the German Bight, with resulting datasets made publicly available for use by wind farm developers.
