Iberdrola’s 496MW Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm, off Brittany, is deploying new technology for collecting wave data to help with planning operations and maintenance work.
Miros’ Wavex virtual sensor was selected by Equans to collect “operation-critical” wave and current data on the offshore substation for the wind farm, off France, which will be operational in 2023.
The sea around the Saint-Brieuc Wind Farm is prone to intense winds and currents, as well as some of the biggest tide variations in the world, resulting in challenging operating conditions.
Wavex is designed to produce “highly accurate” wave and current measurements, capturing and processing sea surface backscatter data via a standard X-band marine navigation radar.
Through robust and adaptive algorithms, it calculates and displays directional wave and surface current data contributing to increased vessel operability, improved safety, and cost savings.
As the Saint-Brieuc maintenance strategy relies on using surface vessels, jack-up vessels, and ROVs/UAVs manoeuvring close to the foundations and cables, the maintenance work would typically be limited by current speeds as low as 1 m/s.
Since the site current speed exceeds 1 m/s daily, Iberdrola needs to manage the working time of the vessels concerning the specific operational characteristics of those vessels.
Alain Goddyn, section manager from Equans, said: “The Wavex sensor is an addition to the meteorological system which is developed by our section and to be deployed on the Saint Brieuc substation for the measurement of the local meteorological conditions.”
Equans is responsible for the integration work on the substation locally in Belgium, before transporting it to the site on the north coast of France.
Ailes Marines is responsible for the development, construction, installation, and operation of the offshore wind farm.