ORQA (Offshore Risk Quantification Analysis) data monitoring platform

ORQA is the very latest remote technology data monitoring platform designed specifically to capture a full meteorological, environmental, wave, tidal and foundation picture of offshore conditions and inform design, planning and environmental consenting phases for the offshore wind industry.  

This innovative platform allows 24/7 offshore multi-data monitoring for the very first time.  The ability to accurately measure offshore conditions offers real value to developers of offshore wind farm sites, significantly de-risking the project in the process thus allowing maximum return on investment made by offshore wind developers.

Using the ORQA platform, the following parameters will be measured:

Meteorological

• Wind speed and direction
• Barometric pressure, temperature and humidity
• Precipitation and visibility

Hydrological

• Water depth
• Wave height and direction
• Currents

 Environmental

• Bird movements
• Presence of sea mammals
• Water temperature and salinity

Foundation

• Inclination and deflection
• Internal strains
• Scour

Reduce risk

The construction of offshore wind farms introduces significant risks to offshore wind farm developers, particularly for UK Round 3 sites further from the coastline.  Costs will be greater for installations in greater water depths but could escalate if conservative parameters are adopted in design.  It has been recognised that real data must be captured by deploying offshore monitoring devices thus ensuring that risks are properly quantified and analysed for all stages of the project life cycle through planning, design, construction and operation.

To aid the move towards capture of real data for offshore developments, SgurrEnergy’s ORQA utilises the very latest in lidar technology, Galion, with its unique steerable beam, to capture critical wind speed and direction data over an extended range of 2km in any direction.  Galion is not constrained to measuring directly above the device in the way other lidar devices are.   Additional instrumentation monitors waves, currents and weather to verify existing metocean data while the monitoring of bird movements and sea mammals using radar and acoustic devices will inform the environmental assessment.  The platform also contains provision to measure scour and to assess the real response of the foundation providing valuable feedback to the design.

The ORQA platform is a versatile solution which provides developers with a single turn-key option for advanced data collection and consequently risk quantification for offshore development. Clients benefit from the fully customisable nature of ORQA allowing them to choose from the various advanced data capture options including meteorological, hydrological, environmental and foundation conditions to inform offshore developments with a greater degree of accuracy than ever seen before – benefiting the offshore wind industry by quantifying and mitigating the risks pertaining to individual sites. 

 

ORQA is available now - contact SgurrEnergy on +44 (0)141 227 1700, email: info@sgurrenergy.com or download the ORQA brochure (204kb).

For more information on SgurrEnergy's Offshore wind capability and track record click Offshore wind.

 

Return to Products main page

Return to Home page