Floating offshore wind developer BlueFloat Energy said Thursday that its 1GW ‘Winds of September’ floating wind project had taken a step further by deploying a floating LiDAR in the waters off Hsinchu, Taiwan.
The project was named after the strong winds blowing in the Hsinchu region every September, and is BlueFloat Energy’s first project in Taiwan. The planned wind farm is located approximately 25 kilometers offshore from Hsinchu city, with a water depth of 64-96 meters and an area of approximately 125 square kilometers.
BlueFloat Energy said Thursday that the floating LiDAR system would enable the gathering of local metocean data, including wind, wave, and current, to inform the floater and mooring system design as well as to refine the wind resource assessment.
This floating LiDAR system is the Akrocean WINDSEA Stage 2, which has achieved the stage 2 of the offshore wind accelerator roadmap according to the criteria defined by Carbon Trust in the UK.
Michael Pinkerton, Country Manager of BlueFloat Energy Taiwan, said: “We are pleased to collaborate with Akrocean, a top service provider in marine meteorological data services, to gather the necessary metocean data for the development of our Winds of September project through the deployment of a floating LiDAR off the coast of Hsinchu.”
BlueFloat Energy announced its entry into the Taiwan market in 2022 with its plans for the “Winds of September” offshore wind project.