Equinor has deployed two floating lidars to collect data for an up to 800MW floating offshore wind farm off the coast of South Korea.

The RPS lidars have been deployed 80km off the coast of Ulsan in the East Sea to collect wind and wave data over the next year, RPS said.

Data will be transmitted every 10 minutes via satellite communications from the RPS floating lidar 4.5 buoy, it added.

Equinor country office manager for South Korea Jacques- Etienne Michel said: “We are pleased to see the floating lidars being deployed.

“The data gathered through this feasibility study will be important to determine the way forward for the project.

“To get there we are looking forward to collaborating with all our partners as we see strong potential in developing floating offshore wind in South Korea.

“Equinor has set a clear target that by 2035 we will increase our renewable capacity installed by 30 times from today.

“We are stepping up to become a global offshore wind major, and we see strong potential for offshore wind in South Korea, a country we consider to be an important market for floating offshore wind going forward, says Michel”.

RPS managing director energy Murray Burling said: “To ensure the commercial viability of an offshore wind farm, our clients need reliable resource data to support their project feasibility assessment.

“Developing a design that maximises data accuracy and return through reliability, while making the process of information gathering easier, safer and more cost-effective for our clients, is our primary concern.”