Green Options

Catch the Wind Ltd. of Virginia has just announced that its new Vindicator laser wind sensor has been deployed on a specialized buoy for a field test off Race Rocks Island in British Columbia.   If successful, the laser sensor would be part of the world’s first buoy-based wind power assessment system, which could shave millions off the cost of assessing conditions at potential sites for offshore wind turbines.

Conventional site assessments for large scale wind farms are done through the construction of a permanent offshore tower, which can cost up to $10 million.  Catch the Wind’s movable buoy-based system, called the WindSentinel, could virtually eliminate that expense and help open up sustainable offshore wind power to small communities, military bases, and other modestly scaled projects.

Forty-two offshore wind farm workers who became stranded on a barely-anchored barge were rescued after several uneasy hours in the stormy seas off the coast of Cumbria northwest of England.

Late last week, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency reported that the stranded wind farm workers were aboard the 270ft UR 101 barge laying cables between turbines at at the partially operational Robin Rigg Wind Farm, 9km out to sea between England and Scotland, when 16 foot seas and winds of 48 knots caused three of the barge’s four anchors to snap. Tethered by just one anchor, the barge was in real danger of breaking free in a vast marine field of turbine foundations.