Observator recently completed a successful FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) for three MetOcean systems, which will be installed on the three offshore substations of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project (CVOW). Thanks in part to Observator’s track record within this market segment and its experience in this field, as well as its excellent relationship with the selected system integrator, Observator was awarded this project in January this year.

Observator’s Project Engineer Erik Mourik says: “Within this project, we were once again able to use our new software package Blue2Cast. This software was developed in-house. Fine-tuning was easy, thanks to the short communication lines with our R&D Department. Examples of this alignment process include the cyber security requirements that had to be met and the sensors that had to be integrated.”

In addition to the standard (ultrasonic wind, temperature, humidity, barometric air pressure, visibility and present weather, cloud height, wave height and direction, seawater temperature sensors, particle size precipitation), LiDAR sensors had to be deployed for this project as well. The latter provides the measurement of wind speed and direction profiled up to 300 m altitude. This resulted in a number of new pages in Blue2Cast.

A Semco Maritime representative further adds: “We have been working with Observator for more than 10 years, and have always appreciated their quality and service. CVOW is the first system we deliver after standardisation of the weather station system. The standardisation have made the weather station system design modular, so it is easy to add or remove new sensors to/from the system. It has given a clear understanding of the expectations to one another and made our cooperation stronger, and also made design of new projects easier.”

After the FAT, an additional wish came up. The parameters ‘surface current speed’ and ‘direction’ also needed to be displayed. Fortunately, Observator’s wave radar supplier Radac had just completed an R&D project in which they had added a surface current estimator module as an optional feature. To this end, Observator will also have to modify its Blue2Cast software. After this, the feature will probably be added remotely within these three systems.

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind
Scheduled to begin offshore construction in 2024, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) is a 2.6-gigawatt offshore wind energy project. It will consist of 176 wind turbines (located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach), three offshore substations, undersea cables and new onshore transmission infrastructure. The generated emission-free wind power will be delivered to homes and businesses.

About Observator
As an ISO-9001-2015 certified company, we – from Observator – apply the highest quality standards to our products and systems. However, as a trend-setting developer and supplier in a wide variety of industries, we are also continuously pushing the boundaries. By developing new, innovative products we retain our competitive edge.