A WindSentinel buoy that has been gathering offshore wind data off Virginia Beach, Virginia, has ended its 19-month deployment and collected a wealth of information, which forms the first publicly accessible database to help improve offshore wind development.
The AXYS’ WindSentinel buoy, one of the two commissioned by the U.S. Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), recorded data through a full cycle of seasons—including two winters and two springs—providing long-term offshore wind profile data that will help researchers, turbine manufacturers, financial institutions, and others in the industry understand the different conditions under which offshore wind farms operate.
This buoy, along with a second Energy Department research buoy currently deployed off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, recorded offshore wind data between 150 feet and 500 feet above the sea surface, where offshore wind turbines operate. This data will help designers understand turbine loads, developers understand power production, and financiers understand their investment risks by having greater certainty about how much energy a wind site project can produce, sell, and supply to the grid, the U.S. Energy Department said.
Although the field campaign in Virginia is over, the work of this research buoy is not. The Energy Department said it is exploring potential partnerships that will make it possible for the buoy to continue collecting critical data that will improve U.S. offshore wind development cost and efficiency in the future.
The data collected by the Energy Department buoys is accessible to the public .