US kick-starts weather and wildlife data gathering initiative for Northeast offshore wind

The US Department of Energy (DoE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Thursday announced a joint 18-month initiative to gather extensive weather, ocean, and wildlife data near the sites of active offshore wind farms and lease areas facing the coastal Northeast.

DoE and NOAA, under the Department of Commerce, will deploy state-of-the-art remote sensing instruments, offshore buoys, and towers off the coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Long Island, New York, where three wind farms, 800MW Vineyard Wind, 30MW Block Island, and 132MW South Fork, are already in operation or under construction.