The Coming of Age for Vertical Profiling Wind Lidars

The progress of lidars within the wind industry has been charted from the start by Windtech International. Articles as far back as the very first edition of the publication in 2004 have highlighted not only the fundamental principles of lidar, but also its applications – onshore, offshore and turbine mounted. On 18 June 2018, a significant milestone was reached whereby vertical profiling lidars – Leosphere’s Windcube and ZephIR’s 300 model – achieved levels of IEC Classification that allow consultants, developers and turbine manufacturers to have further confidence in the technology’s ability to measure across a range of environmental conditions. The lidars were demonstrated to operate with known and low uncertainties, making them suitable for the variety of applications that have become synonymous with these remote sensing devices: from resource assessment and site calibration to formal power curve testing.