First successful offshore campaign for the stabilised scanning LiDAR developed by the LHEEA for floating wind measurements

Measuring offshore wind and its properties is key to tackling scientific, technical and environmental issues. Issues which are the focus for several LHEEA teams: knowledge of the atmospheric environment and the development of Marine Renewable Energies. This is why, in 2018, the LHEEA acquired a scanning LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), an innovative measurement tool to precisely characterise wind and atmosphere.
 

Offshore tests and measurements in September 2022

After initial onshore testing, several months of preparation proved necessary to design, assemble and validate the stabilised LiDAR. In this set-up, the measuring instrument (250 kg) is held horizontally by a stabilising platform to enable it to acquire data under optimum conditions, despite the movements of its floating support, be it boat or platform. In September, the stabilised LiDAR was taken on board ship for a first 3-day offshore campaign:
 
Measurements were acquired around the Cardinaux lighthouse - also instrumented by the LHEEA - in order to verify the system, and then on the SEM-REV offshore test site, off the coast of Le Croisic in the vicinity of BW Ideol’s floating wind turbine FLOATGEN, which was installed on site in 2018. 

The test campaign was successful, the stabilised LiDAR was able to acquire its first data sets and the stabilisation device proved its worth in this complex environment. The objective of these offshore measurements is to acquire data on offshore wind resources and to be able to characterise the wake of a floating wind turbine. Understanding and modelling these wakes is essential to quantify the possible interactions between several wind turbines and thus improve the production of offshore wind turbines. Data that is key today for the deployment of floating wind farms. 

 
Example of a wake image captured by LiDAR during this campaign (preliminary data).

This offshore test campaign follows onshore testing in 2019-2020

The scanning LiDAR was first installed, in October 2019, on the terrace of a building in the Penn Avel park in Le Croisic, which serves as the SEM-REV team's onshore research base. This first deployment supported two LHEEA projects studying the coastal atmosphere: MATRAC and WAKEFUL. This data documented the wind-wave interactions close to the coast, in particular by showing the wave signature in the lowest layers of the atmosphere [Paskin, Liad, et al. 2022]. In addition to the specific needs of the projects, this first deployment provided the opportunity to develop and test new functionalities in order to prepare an on-board offshore test campaign.

 

> Learn more about this first test campaign