EOLOS Floating Lidar Solutions has signed an agreement for a turn-key campaign at US Wind’s New Jersey offshore wind site with an option for a subsequent campaign at the developer’s site in South Carolina.
Expected to have the first buoy in US waters before the end of 2018, the project will take advantage of US Wind’s own met mast at Maryland for pre-validation. A one-year campaign with options for extension will then proceed at the New Jersey site owned by US Wind.
US Wind Director and President, Riccardo Toto, said: “Following our success at bidding for Ocean City, Maryland in 2014 where we are witnessing the fabrication of the US first offshore wind meteorological mast, the follow-on project of New Jersey provided an opportunity to evaluate a floating technology solution and significantly lower outlay and operational cost.”
This collaboration confirms the company’s market entry to the US, a first for EOLOS following their European track-record and partnerships underway in Japan.
Julian Harland , Sales Director for EOLOS, said: “The US offshore wind market, lagging for some time behind the European and Asian achievements, is at last ripe for solid growth, seeking trusted, evidence-based vendors across the supply chain. EOLOS is ready to be assessed on that basis and has the credentials to enter a new market without raising technical or operational risk beyond either party´s requirements.”
Successful project execution will position EOLOS for first party consideration of deployment at the South Carolina development for a further year. Local marine operations for both deployments will be under the responsibility of EOLOS executed by New Jersey-based Ocean Tech Services, LLC, an alliance that has been fostered and earmarked for future contracts since Autumn 2017.
Stephen O’Malley , President of Ocean Tech Services, said: “This collaboration allows us to advance our 10 years of experience serving the US offshore wind industry and leveraging our existing facilities and infrastructure. It’s another OTS accomplishment towards direct OEM experience as we continue to serve other commercial clients and the US Government with floating LiDAR support services.”
The project schedules of the US Wind concession were a key enabler to the negotiations between EOLOS and US Wind.
“Whilst US east coast sites have been in our sights since 2017, the US Wind timetable fitted our product fulfilment capabilities. Managing our growth is my primary activity and an earlier US execution would have been just too challenging. With the validation and deployment target dates agreed, this complements our European contracts whilst allowing opportunities still to be bid for our emerging markets,” said Rajai Aghabi , CEO at EOLOS.