Focus topic offshore: greater success with sound site investigations

Designing and constructing offshore wind farms demands comprehensive knowledge of the environmental conditions at the selected location. This is the only way for the project to be a financial success. Fraunhofer IWES carries out wind measuring and modeling campaigns as well as the investigation of geological sub-surface characteristics and seismic surveys of the subsoil for offshore wind farms. Innovative technologies tried and tested in feasibility studies, data analyses, and actual offshore deployments are employed for sound site investigations.

Offshore wind farm development with innovative measurement methods

Fraunhofer IWES has extensive experience in the development of offshore wind farms, from modeling wind conditions and wind measurements to sub-surface investigation and geological ground models. CFD (computational fluid dynamics) models are employed to simulate the offshore wind conditions according to relevant atmospheric characteristics. The effects of existing wind farms are also included. Floating lidar systems are employed for the offshore wind measuring campaigns. They meet the highest international standards and also offer innovative services for wind farm development.

For sub-surface investigation, Fraunhofer IWES has developed 2D and 3D geological investigation technologies with ultra-high-resolution multichannel seismics and brought them to market maturity. All wind farm areas in Germany that were centrally pre-investigated were measured by Fraunhofer IWES using this method. A further special field of application is boulder detection performed with the aid of of patented refraction seismic methods.

With Fraunhofer IWES: cost-efficient planning and development 

Effective project and risk management forms the basis for the successful and cost-efficient planning, construction and operation of offshore wind farms. During the planning and implementation phase, Fraunhofer IWES offers project planning and weather risk analyses in order to identify and assess potential risks at an early stage. In addition, Fraunhofer IWES supports partners in the development of new technologies to effectively exploit the potential of direct offshore generation of green hydrogen and other Power-to-X products.