RWE/Essent completes the construction of meteomast for offshore wind
RWE/Essent have completed the construction of a meteomast at 75 kilometers off the coast of IJmuiden (NL).
The meteomast, with a height of almost 100 meters, is full of measuring equipment in order to record data with respect to wind speed, temperature, atmospheric humidity and wave height. Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland (ECN) will collect and analyse the data.
The results of this research are important for the future development of wind farms far out at sea. The data will also be used in the research and development program of the Dutch FLOW consortium (Far and Large Offshore Wind).
The meteomast was installed by offshore and marine contractor Van Oord.
FLOW consortium
The FLOW project started in 2009 as an initiative of Dutch firms and knowledge centers, i.e. Essent-RWE, Eneco, TenneT, Ballast Nedam, Van Oord, IHC Merwede, 2-B Energy, XEMC Darwind, ECN and TU Delft. The partners formulated a business plan that will enable involved parties to take a leading position in the European market for offshore wind farms. The objective of the FLOW plan is to realise a cost reduction for far offshore wind energy of 20% in 2015 (as compared to 2010). Worldwide, knowledge and experience in the construction and operation of wind farms in deep water far offshore is still limited. FLOW aims to increase reliability of such wind farms and to speed up development speed, at the same time decreasing risks and costs.
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Published: 10 November 2011