Akrocean’s WINDSEA FLiDAR Gets Stage 2 Okay

France-based Akrocean has received stage 2 validation for its WINDSEA floating LiDAR (FLD) under the OWA Carbon Trust Roadmap.

According to Akrocean, the validation was granted by DNV GL and marks commercial acceptance for the floating LiDAR.

Offshore trials that began earlier in 2018 were performed in the English Channel and have been independently reviewed by DNV GL, the French company said.

The WINDSEA buoy was installed at the met mast of the Fécamp offshore wind project in April last year as part of the type 2 validation process for a wind measurement campaign.

“This is a great satisfaction to reach this milestone after being set up only 18 months ago,” said Matthieu Blandin, Akocean’s COO.

“This enables our strategy with our two major partners GEPS Techno (floating system supplier) and VALEMO (O&M services + supervision provider) to become a major actor in the field of metocean and environmental data collection. We have received also a great support during these trials from our LIDAR supplier LEOSPHERE.”

WINDSEA is a hybrid LiDAR (wave and solar energy) stabilized and monitored by Valemo from an onshore control center in Bordeaux, Akrocean said.

The company added that it is the only floating LiDAR using passive stabilization thanks to wave tanks damping the platform movements and generating electricity.

“The report highlights an excellent compliance to the acceptance criteria defined in the Carbon Trust Roadmap, exceeding best practices in terms of accuracy. This new FLD player will help to bring more confidence to offshore wind developers on this very promising technology such as FLDs,” said Pierre-Emmanuel Brichet, Offshore Wind Farm Engineer at DNV GL.