Minimising risks and uncertainty when developing offshore wind farms will be a key topic explored by the Met Office at this year's Offshore Wind & Supply Chain conference in Aberdeen.
The Met Office's Alex Hill, Chief Advisor to the Governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland, will give the keynote speech at a breakfast seminar on 29 January. The talk – De-risking the weather element of an offshore project throughout the lifecycle – will discuss how the latest forecasting techniques will help to remove some of the risks and uncertainty associated with the development of offshore wind farms.
Said Alex Hill: “The North Sea and other waters around Scotland are some of the most inhospitable places to work in Europe.
“The marine energy industry has plans to develop offshore wind projects in ever deeper and more exposed waters, increasing the risk of weather downtime during the construction, operation and maintenance phases of projects. Weather sits at the heart of planning, installation and operations of offshore wind farms. There are key lessons that can be taken from the offshore oil and gas industry in Scotland that can really benefit the renewable energy industry.”
By combining its experience in numerical weather prediction, its years of investing in research and development and its capability for merging techniques and observational data, the Met Office helps businesses in the offshore renewable energy and oil and gas industries to manage the impact of the weather and get maximum return from their assets. Its experts at the Offshore Wind & Supply Chain conference will demonstrate how the risks of weather affecting the success of an offshore project can be minimised through a suite of commercial solutions, including its web-based Safesee system (pictured).