First Flight Wind, the consortium comprising B9 Energy, DONG Energy and RES, is pleased to announce that it has now gathered sufficient data from its two metocean survey buoys, which were deployed within the Wind Resource Zone since last November.
(Metocean is an abreviation for both meteorology and oceonography. The term is iften used in the offshore industry to describe the physical environment say near an offshore platform.)
The metocean survey was commissioned by First Flight Wind so that it could understand local marine conditions. Two specialised buoys collected data on wave height, currents, salinity and suspended sediments. The detailed information will help First Flight Wind to understand the marine processes within the site where the project will be located.
The southern-most buoy was decommissioned in July, and the remaining buoy will be removed in the middle of October, with a Notice to Mariners issued to alert users of the sea. Jack Farnham, First Flight Wind said: “We are pleased with the metocean data we’ve collected, which captures one of the stormiest winters on record. Our buoys recorded peak wave heights of over 8m, which is quite exceptional for the Irish Sea. The full 12-month data set will help us understand the physical process on site which will feed into our environmental and engineering studies.
“I would like to thank Strangford Moorings and Fugro-EMU for installing, servicing and decommissioning the buoys.
Matt Dorman from Strangford Moorings added: “As a family run business with 20-years’ experience in Strangford Lough and the east coast of Northern Ireland, we were delighted to have assisted in the First Flight Wind Metocean survey and pleased that it was a success. We believe it’s important for local companies to get involved in the development of this project.”
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