ORSIG webinar: Knowledge Exchange Between Offshore Wind Resource and Metocean Professionals

On 5 May 2021 the Offshore Renewables SIG, in collaboration with the Operational Oceanography SIG hosted a webinar on the convergence of two distinct professional disciplines, both concerned with the quantification of offshore wind.

What does this webinar cover?

The wind energy industry originated onshore, where reliable long term measured wind data were often available, while complex terrain introduced considerable variability in local winds. A key consideration was the quantification of annual or longer term mean wind at a development site, for assessment of available wind energy resource.

Over parallel decades, the MetOcean profession evolved to support offshore operations and engineering design, with a major focus on oil and gas. In contrast to onshore winds, long term measurement was generally not available at remote offshore locations, while horizontal and vertical variability were usually much more straightforward. Offshore winds were often more important as an input to wave generation than a direct engineering impact, with much more effort dedicated to estimation of extremes than normals.