New solution bolsters Leosphere’s current suite of lidar offerings for the rapidly growing development and operations of offshore wind projects.
Leosphere, a Vaisala company that specializes in developing, manufacturing, and servicing turnkey wind lidar (light detection and ranging) instruments for wind energy, aviation, meteorology, and air quality, today announced the fortification of its suite of offshore solutions to include the incorporation of a buoy-ready Windcube system to enable enhanced offshore wind resource assessment, even in harsh offshore environments.
“The Windcube is the reference lidar for all phases of wind development and operations internationally,” said Alexandre Sauvage, CEO of Leosphere, a Vaisala company. “Already widely deployed across applications onshore, near-offshore and on platforms in the ocean, our new design enables customers to quickly leverage Windcube in an offshore floating environment.”
This buoy-ready offshore-environment solution retains all of the sought-after capabilities of the industry-leading Windcube system, which is used today onshore and offshore on fixed platforms. It provides bankable data by producing constant accuracy up to 200-plus meters over 12 simultaneous heights and is accepted onshore and offshore by all international standards and guidelines.
The new design will provide all of the innovation embodied in the Windcube but features a more robust casing in order to withstand difficult marine conditions in a moving platform at sea. It is also designed to be easily integrated into commercial floating buoys. Compared to traditional meteorological masts, floating lidar systems offer many benefits, including quicker deployment and cheaper installation in which savings up to 90% are possible.
With the global demand for energy constantly growing, accelerating at its fastest pace in more than a decade, offshore wind and other carbon-free solutions are becoming a more important part of the world energy demand equation. According to a recent study by Global Industry Analysis, offshore wind capacity is forecast to grow by over 80 gigawatts (GW) through 2024, achieving an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 25% in that period.
“The ability to measure wind speeds and direction from a floating lidar solution instead of a met mast has been essential to accelerating the pace of offshore development,” said PS Reilly, CEO of AXYS Technologies, a global provider of data monitoring solutions and turnkey offshore monitoring campaigns. “The Windcube and its ability to accurately read wind characteristics has been a part of this industry breakthrough from the beginning, and the enhancements with this new model will help us bring even more reliability and bankability to our clients.”
Vaisala, a global leader in weather, environmental, and industrial measurements, acquired Leosphere in 2018. For more information on how Vaisala now provides the most comprehensive lidar-based wind measurement systems to markets around the globe, please visit us on November 26-28 in Copenhagen at WindEurope Offshore 2019 (stand C3-A11) or go to www.leosphere.com.
