The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES has completed a site condition monitoring campaign in Liivi Bay, Estonia, Europe, commissioned by energy company Enefit, a state-owned energy company based in Estonia, as part of the development of the Liivi Offshore Wind Farm project.

Running from October 2024 to December 2025, the campaign collected a full year of environmental and meteorological data to support the safe and efficient design of the planned offshore wind installation.

Scope of the Measurement Campaign

The campaign centered on the deployment of the Fraunhofer IWES Stage 3+ Wind Lidar Buoy, a Floating Lidar System, in Liivi Bay. The buoy was installed alongside co-deployed oceanographic sensors to gather a comprehensive range of site-specific data.

Measurements collected during the campaign included wind profiles, turbulence intensity, wave parameters, and current data. In addition to the offshore buoy, the campaign incorporated a land-based lidar measurement station and wind modeling work to build a complete picture of site conditions.

Floating Lidar Systems have become a widely used tool in the offshore wind industry due to their ability to provide accurate resource measurements at sea with traceable and minimized measurement uncertainty.

The data gathered through such campaigns is considered essential before any offshore wind farm can be built, providing the site-specific resource and environmental information needed to underpin project design, energy yield assessments, and financing.

Managing the Sea Ice Season

One of the specific challenges of operating in Liivi Bay was the seasonal presence of sea ice in the Baltic region. To prevent damage to the buoy, Fraunhofer IWES temporarily removed the Floating Lidar System from its deployment site during the sea ice season.

The gap in offshore measurements created by this planned removal was addressed through a parallel onshore lidar campaign conducted on Kihnu Island, which provided a wind measurement reference for the period when the buoy was absent from the water.

To reconcile the two datasets and address the data gap, Fraunhofer IWES applied horizontal transfer modeling using an offshore-calibrated atmospheric flow model.

This approach allowed the team to complete the datasets and maintain data continuity across the full campaign period despite the seasonal interruption.

First Commercial Use of Advanced Turbulence Intensity Methodology

A technically significant aspect of the Liivi Bay campaign was the delivery of turbulence intensity measurements using Fraunhofer IWES's high-frequency deterministic motion compensation method.

Enefit and the Liivi project are described as the first commercial partners to receive turbulence intensity results derived from this methodology for floating lidar systems.

Turbulence intensity measurements are a critical component of offshore wind site assessment, influencing turbine design loads and overall project engineering.

The use of a high-frequency line-of-sight motion compensation approach represents a step forward in the accuracy with which floating lidar systems can capture this parameter.

Loïs Legendre, Project Manager for Wind Measurement at Fraunhofer IWES, said the team was pleased to deliver the turbulence intensity measurements based on the institute's own advancement into high-frequency line-of-sight motion compensation.

He described the work as bringing the benefit of applied research to industry, in line with Fraunhofer's broader mission.

Partners and Operational Support

The campaign involved several organizations beyond Fraunhofer IWES and Enefit. The Riigilaevastik, the Estonian State Fleet, provided vessel crews and operational support throughout the campaign's duration. Luode Consulting conducted the oceanographic measurements as part of the co-deployed sensor work.

Andres Laasma, Director General of the Estonian State Fleet, noted that active participation in scientific research and monitoring activities in national waters is of high importance to the organization, including making state fleet resources available to support such work.

Strategic Significance for Baltic Offshore Wind

Enefit's Baltic Business Development Manager, Johann-Gustav Lend, described Liivi Bay as a strategically important location for offshore wind development in the Baltic region.

He said the insights gained from the measurement campaign would support Enefit in advancing offshore wind capacity that enhances regional energy security and accelerates the transition to a cleaner energy system.

Enefit is part of the Eesti Energia Group and brings together energy production, development, retail, energy trading, and portfolio management. The company serves more than half a million retail customers across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, and has approximately 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy generation capacity, making it one of the leading renewable energy producers in the Baltic states.

Fraunhofer IWES at WindEurope 2026

Following the completion of the Liivi Bay campaign, Fraunhofer IWES is scheduled to attend the WindEurope conference in Madrid from April 21 to 23, 2026, where it will present its current research and commercial services for the offshore wind energy sector.

The institute operates with more than 400 employees across nine locations and focuses on offshore wind, hydrogen, test infrastructure, and digitalization.

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