A WRA involves an assessment of local wind conditions and site conditions at a specific location. The objective is to determine exactly how strongly and how often the wind blows, from which directions it comes, and how reliable that data is. The expected energy yield can be estimated based on that information. The final report is then used by developers and investors as essential input for the business case and the design, financial and permit processes. 

The study was carried out using two floating LiDAR buoys supplied by Fugro, which collected data non-stop from November 2022 to November 2023. To further reduce project uncertainties, this data was combined with data from the existing LiDAR campaign being carried out by the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) at the Westhinder (WH) measuring pile.

When preparing the WRA for the Princess Elisabeth Zone, great care was taken to ensure the quality of the measurement data and the reliability of the resulting conclusions. After all, LiDAR data collected at three measurement points over a period of one or a few years had to be extrapolated to the entire PEZ, for a period spanning several decades. To this end, we compared and validated the spatial extrapolations using other data sources, and produced the short-term to long-term extrapolations using the Measure-Correlate-Predict (MCP) method. Finally, the implicit effect of the wind turbines and wind farms themselves (wake effects) on the wind field was estimated using the WakeBlaster CFD model.

Thanks to these quality control measures, the results of the Wind Resource Assessment serve as a solid basis to make informed decisions about the development of offshore wind farms in the PEZ, both now and in the future. It is expected that market parties will be invited to tender for the concessions to build and operate wind turbines in the various blocks in the coming years.