DNV GL leads consortium to update Carbon Trust Floating LiDAR Roadmap

DNV GL, the world’s largest resource of independent energy experts and certification body, leads a consortium to update the Carbon Trust Offshore Wind Accelerator Roadmap for the commercial acceptance of floating LiDAR technology. The other members of the consortium are Frazer Nash Consultancy, Multiversum and Fraunhofer IWES.

The updated roadmap is accepted as the international industry framework for defining floating LiDAR technology maturity. It will provide the industry with a clear framework for floating LiDAR suppliers to align with and to help increase industry confidence in the use of floating LiDAR technology to support offshore wind farm developments.

The revised Roadmap, published by the Carbon Trust on 9th October 2018 provides a clear definition related to Stage 3 maturity, providing detailed requirements for systems to progress to this final maturity stage (fully commercial). In addition, the updated Roadmap includes new material and extensions to the original document to reflect latest industry experience.

Prajeev Rasiah, Executive Vice President for DNV GL’s Energy business in Northern Europe, Middle East & Africa, said, “We are proud to have led this collaborative effort with our project partners. From our extensive experience of supporting developers and investors, and from the outcome of this project, it is clear that floating LiDAR technology will continue to feature heavily in offshore wind farm measurement campaigns in Europe, but also in emerging wind markets, such as North America and Asia. It is of paramount importance that we have a common industry understanding of the best practice application of this technology to further increase industry acceptance of and confidence in data collected from floating LiDAR systems.”

Floating LiDAR technology represents a cost-effective way of measuring the wind resource at proposed offshore wind farm sites, at a fraction of the cost of installing a conventional meteorological mast, making significant project savings and helping to further reduce the levelised cost of energy. The progress made in successfully adopting floating LiDAR technology is demonstrated by a recent Offshore Wind Accelerator review of system deployments worldwide published in September 2018, which reported 84 offshore deployments of 13 Floating LiDAR devices at approximately 40 locations across Northern Europe, North America and South East Asia.

Established in 2001, the Carbon Trust works with businesses, governments and institutions around the world, helping them contribute to – and benefit from – a more sustainable future through carbon reduction, resource efficient strategies, and commercialising low carbon businesses, systems and technologies.