The devices – supplied by UK engineering giant Babcock International and Belgian start-up FLiDAR – will be moored some 16km offshore, near the development’s existing met-masts.
Powered by PV panels and micro wind turbines, the Lidar devices are being looked to as a “simpler, quicker, more effective and cheaper alternative” to met-masts during offshore wind development.
The tests are being carried out under the aegis of the UK Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator programme, which aims to cut the cost of offshore wind power by 10% by 2015.
