Contractors Fugro installed the device (pictured) last week within the area for lease granted by the Isle of Man Government to Ørsted in 2015.
The deployment of the measurement buoy, Fugro’s Seawatch®️ Midi buoy, is the latest step in the ongoing survey and exploration work at the proposed site, approximately 6-12 nautical miles off the east coast of the Island, to determine its suitability for an offshore wind farm.
The addition of a subsea temperature monitoring device to this buoy will gather data for the first time on water temperature to the east of the Isle of Man. It is hoped in the coming months and years that this data will be used by stakeholders across the Island to track trends and monitor the growing impact on the marine environment from global climate change.
Development Director at Ørsted, John Galloway, said: “The deployment of this device off the east coast of the Isle of Man is just part of the wide range of surveys that we have been carrying out over the years as we design this project.
“We’re extremely proud that we’ve been able to repurpose and reuse a wave measurement buoy from one of our existing Irish Sea projects - yet another signal of Ørsted’s commitment to sustainability and driving down the cost of offshore wind.”
Fugro has over 100 data buoys presently deployed around Europe, including 10 for Ørsted. Fugro and Ørsted have worked together for over 12 years and Fugro were pleased to be asked to expand the capabilities of this buoy.
Earlier this year, Ørsted opened their Isle of Man office, located in Athol Street, Douglas, that will serve as the hub for the company’s further development of renewable energy projects in the Irish Sea.
Ørsted has 12 operational offshore wind farms in the UK, providing more than 5.5GW of renewable electricity for the UK. This includes 6 offshore wind farm projects located in the Irish Sea between the UK and the Isle of Man. It’s newest array, Hornsea 2 off the coast of Yorkshire, is the world’s largest offshore wind farm and makes a significant contribution to Ørsted’s global ambition of installing 30 GW offshore wind by 2030.
