Fraunhofer IWES Completes Wind Measurement Campaign for Estonian Project

The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) has completed a site condition monitoring campaign in Liivi Bay, Estonia, for the Liivi offshore wind farm project, commissioned by Enefit.

The campaign, conducted from October 2024 to December 2025, involved the deployment of the Stage 3+ Wind LiDAR Buoy together with co-deployed oceanographic sensors to collect wind profiles, turbulence intensity, and wave and current data. It also included a land-based LiDAR measurement campaign and wind modelling.

During the sea ice season, the floating LiDAR buoy was temporarily removed from the site to prevent damage, with data continuity maintained by installing an onshore LiDAR on Kihnu Island, with horizontal transfer modelling using an offshore-calibrated atmospheric flow model applied to complete the dataset.

The campaign forms part of the development of the Liivi offshore wind farm, providing site-specific resource and environmental data required for project design and energy yield assessment.

Project partners included the Estonian State Fleet, which provided vessel support, and Luode Consulting, which carried out oceanographic measurements.

Fraunhofer IWES said the campaign was the first commercial deployment to obtain advanced turbulence intensity measurements using its high-frequency deterministic motion compensation method for floating LiDAR systems.

The Liivi Bay offshore wind farm is planned to be built in the Gulf of Riga, 11 kilometres from Kihnu Island and 16 kilometres from Häädemeeste. The offshore wind farm is planned to consist of up to 84 turbines and to have a total generation capacity of 1,000 MW, with an annual electricity production of up to 4 TWh. 

According to information about the project shared earlier, Enefit expects the construction period of the offshore wind farm to take place between 2028 and 2030.

In 2025, the developer appointed AFRY Netherlands to carry out offshore wind farm design work, including preparing a Contract for Difference (CfD) Front End Engineering Design (FEED) with CapEx, OpEx and Levelised Cost of Energy (LCoE) assessment, or Bid FEED.