Revolutionizing Offshore Energy with SAR Technology

On January 25, 2024, the Geoawesomeness Meetup took place, in which Erik Holtslag, Senior Consultant Renewable Energy at Pondera, shared his expertise. During this webinar, Erik talked about the possibilities of the combination Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) in the offshore wind energy sector. GRASP is a Large Eddy Simulation model that has been developed by Whiffle. The model can add value to offshore wind projects and will be explained in the webinar.

GRASP accurately analyses weather complexity by using data from local conditions. The results are highly detailed weather forecasts. By applying GRASP, we can not only identify optimal locations for offshore wind farms, but also improve forecast accuracy and reduce costs.

During the webinar, Erik presented a case study, using an offshore site in Indonesia as an example. It demonstrated how GRASP can remove modelling uncertainties and how integrating SAR can significantly reduce costs in the development phase of offshore wind farms.

For emerging markets, GRASP can add value by determining the ideal location for wind farms and planned wind measurements. In existing offshore wind markets, there is already a lot of data available, where GRASP can be used to determine absolute wind speed. Subsequently, SAR data locates actual offshore wind patterns, reducing uncertainty and helping to better design measurement campaigns.

GRASP can be used widely to calculate various parameters. Based on site and specific request, we can make a calculation plan. The result is an estimate of run time, costs and deliverables. The output may vary from long-term wind speed and direction to turbulence, inflow angles, stability, cloud cover, workable weather estimates and so on.