Miros leads the way in real-time, future-proof ocean monitoring for offshore wind

Knowing the sea state can mean the success or failure of an offshore wind operation. Røstad tells of a cable laying company hired to lay 12 inter array cables for a floating offshore wind farm.

It managed to lay only four due to inadequate data on weather conditions. With better data on ocean conditions, the company would have chosen a different vessel and avoided costly work delays – in addition to saving three times the emissions.

“This story is a great example of why offshore wind farm projects need state-of-the-art ocean monitoring,” he says.

Miros delivers real-time and historical sea state data for offshore wind farms. Sensors enable wind, wave and current monitoring, empowering wind farm and vessel operators to make the best decisions, moment by moment.

Røstad explains how Miros’ wave measurements turned a potentially failed operation into a success.

“An offshore wind service vessel had the policy to stop operations when ocean waves reached 4 metres. Although a general weather forecast predicted waves of 4.2 metres, Miros’ real-time wave measurements from the vessel showed a wave height of 3.9 metres. The captain made the call to continue the work, resulting in a successful operation while preventing six hours of downtime,” says Røstad.

In addition, Miros provides continuous, reliable data on the wave and weather forces acting on the offshore wind structures. This information is crucial in assessing long-term structural health, identifying maintenance needs, and preventing unexpected failures.

Moreover, Miros’ systems and solutions utilise the best cybersecurity methods available to ensure secure data collection and storage.

Sea state-as-a-service is an all-inclusive subscription plan containing Miros’ dry-mounted, IoT-enabled sensors, along with access to the Miros Cloud service for secure and convenient data access anytime, anywhere and on any device. Miros assumes the responsibility of owning, insuring and maintaining the sensors, relieving wind farm owners and operators of these burdens.

This model is different from all other companies providing some form of sea state data.

“Our model is future proof. We ensure that the technology is always updated and functional every day for the life of the wind farm, which is estimated at 25 years,” says Røstad.

As an added benefit, the solution is plug-and-play with no upfront costs.

Demand for offshore wind power continues to grow. Over 380 GW of offshore wind capacity, across 32 markets, is predicted to be added in the next 10 years. Given these numbers, Miros is well positioned to provide cost-saving sea state data to wind farms worldwide.

“Right now, we see especially huge potential in service vessels for offshore wind, where demand is higher than capacity,” says Røstad.

For offshore wind, Miros focuses on the European market, especially the UK.

On a global scale, Miros has been pioneering radar-based ocean surface measurements for over four decades delivering its reliable and trusted systems and applications to the global offshore and maritime industries.