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- Category: Articles
Direct Detection Lidar for Wind Measurement
Wind-sensing lidars are considered a promising technology for the high quality wind measurements required for different applications such as hub height wind resource assessment, power curve measurements and advanced, real-time, forward-looking turbine control. Until recently, the only available lidar technology was based on coherent Doppler shift detection, whose market acceptance has been slow primarily due to its high price. Direct detection lidar technology provides an alternative to remote sensing of wind by incorporating high precision measurement, a robust design and an affordable price tag.
By Nathan Sela PhD, co-founder and VP of R&D, Pentalum Technologies, Israel
Wind-sensing lidars are considered a promising technology for the high quality wind measurements required for different applications such as hub height wind resource assessment, power curve measurements and advanced, real-time, forward-looking turbine control. Until recently, the only available lidar technology was based on coherent Doppler shift detection, whose market acceptance has been slow primarily due to its high price. Direct detection lidar technology provides an alternative to remote sensing of wind by incorporating high precision measurement, a robust design and an affordable price tag.By Nathan Sela PhD, co-founder and VP of R&D, Pentalum Technologies, Israel
- Category: Articles
High-Resolution Meteorological Data to Plan the Placement of an Offshore Wind Grid
Using a sophisticated weather model, environmental engineers at Stanford University (USA) have defined the optimal placement of a grid of four wind farms off the US East Coast. The model successfully balances production at times of peak demand and significantly reduces costly spikes and zero-power events.
By Andrew Myers, Associate Director of Communications, Stanford University School of Engineering, USA
Using a sophisticated weather model, environmental engineers at Stanford University (USA) have defined the optimal placement of a grid of four wind farms off the US East Coast. The model successfully balances production at times of peak demand and significantly reduces costly spikes and zero-power events.By Andrew Myers, Associate Director of Communications, Stanford University School of Engineering, USA
- Category: Articles
How Ice Accretion Affects Wind Turbines
For the wind energy industry a 'cold climate' site refers to a location that might experience significant periods of time or frequency of icing events or low temperatures outside the operational limits of standard wind turbines. In recent years many countries in Europe, Asia and North America have had to develop wind farms in cold climate regions. The main reasons for this choice are good wind energy resources in high altitudes (e.g. Switzerland with sites at 800 metres above sea level), and the higher installation and O&M costs for offshore when compared with land-based wind farms. This new development has brought some new challenges for designers, manufacturers and operators. One of these challenges is icing of the wind turbine blades and its effects on the aerodynamics and responses of the wind turbine. This article addresses ice accretion on the blade and its effects on the aerodynamic properties of the rotor.
By Mahmoud Etemaddar, PhD candidate, Institute of Marine Technology, NTNU, Norway
For the wind energy industry a 'cold climate' site refers to a location that might experience significant periods of time or frequency of icing events or low temperatures outside the operational limits of standard wind turbines. In recent years many countries in Europe, Asia and North America have had to develop wind farms in cold climate regions. The main reasons for this choice are good wind energy resources in high altitudes (e.g. Switzerland with sites at 800 metres above sea level), and the higher installation and O&M costs for offshore when compared with land-based wind farms. This new development has brought some new challenges for designers, manufacturers and operators. One of these challenges is icing of the wind turbine blades and its effects on the aerodynamics and responses of the wind turbine. This article addresses ice accretion on the blade and its effects on the aerodynamic properties of the rotor.
By Mahmoud Etemaddar, PhD candidate, Institute of Marine Technology, NTNU, Norway
- Category: Articles
High-Resolution Digital Photography for Offshore Aerial Bird Surveys
As a result of the rapid growth in the offshore wind sector, the demand for spatial environmental data is constantly increasing. Traditional visual aerial survey methods suffer from reliability, safety and data quality drawbacks. These can be overcome by new digital methods, and in this article we discuss the application of these new technologies to offshore aerial bird and mammal surveys.
By Stuart C. Clough, Director of Remote Sensing, APEM, UK
As a result of the rapid growth in the offshore wind sector, the demand for spatial environmental data is constantly increasing. Traditional visual aerial survey methods suffer from reliability, safety and data quality drawbacks. These can be overcome by new digital methods, and in this article we discuss the application of these new technologies to offshore aerial bird and mammal surveys.By Stuart C. Clough, Director of Remote Sensing, APEM, UK
- Category: Articles
Techniques for Addressing Larger Wind Farms
Layout tools attempt to identify the best layout of wind turbines on a land or offshore area according to energy capture. They model free stream wind flowing through an area with sited turbines and calculate the energy output of successive turbines while taking wake effects and turbulence intensities into account. A key component of such tools is the ‘optimiser’ algorithm used to efficiently search through a modest proportion of candidate layouts to identify the best one. This article discusses earlier bio-inspired algorithms, and then the CMA-ES algorithm, an evolutionary algorithm that performs stochastic sampling optimisation by mimicking fundamental aspects of the neo-Darwinian evolutionary process.
By Kalyan Veeramachaneni and Una-May O’Reilly, Evolutionary Design and Optimization Group, CSAIL, MIT, USA
Layout tools attempt to identify the best layout of wind turbines on a land or offshore area according to energy capture. They model free stream wind flowing through an area with sited turbines and calculate the energy output of successive turbines while taking wake effects and turbulence intensities into account. A key component of such tools is the ‘optimiser’ algorithm used to efficiently search through a modest proportion of candidate layouts to identify the best one. This article discusses earlier bio-inspired algorithms, and then the CMA-ES algorithm, an evolutionary algorithm that performs stochastic sampling optimisation by mimicking fundamental aspects of the neo-Darwinian evolutionary process.By Kalyan Veeramachaneni and Una-May O’Reilly, Evolutionary Design and Optimization Group, CSAIL, MIT, USA
- Category: Articles
Everybody Expects It – But Are They Right?
Consolidation within the wind sector has been much discussed over the past 12–18 months due to weakening demand and ongoing price pressure. However, with global demand down and a manufacturing overcapacity already existing, the consolidation of Tier 2/3 wind OEMs into Tier 1 global competitors is not likely unless there are other factors at play. These other factors include leveraging an intellectual property portfolio, gaining strategic access to a market, gaining a manufacturing footprint in an underserved market, or providing some level of vertical integration. In this article, Philip Totaro considers the wind turbine market and OEM outlook for the next 12–18 months, both globally and for different regions of the world.
By Philip Totaro, Principal, IntelStor, USA
Consolidation within the wind sector has been much discussed over the past 12–18 months due to weakening demand and ongoing price pressure. However, with global demand down and a manufacturing overcapacity already existing, the consolidation of Tier 2/3 wind OEMs into Tier 1 global competitors is not likely unless there are other factors at play. These other factors include leveraging an intellectual property portfolio, gaining strategic access to a market, gaining a manufacturing footprint in an underserved market, or providing some level of vertical integration. In this article, Philip Totaro considers the wind turbine market and OEM outlook for the next 12–18 months, both globally and for different regions of the world.By Philip Totaro, Principal, IntelStor, USA
- Category: Articles
Ultrasonic Wind Sensors Versus Mechanical Anemometers
Making accurate wind measurements in difficult site conditions can be challenging, but the development of the wind energy industry has meant that high quality wind data has become an economic necessity. Multi-million investment decisions are being based on bankable datasets. Over the years mechanical anemometers have become the industry standard for wind speed measurement despite their non-ideal performance in difficult conditions. But with a better understanding of ultrasonic wind sensor functionality, its trade-offs and advantages, perhaps there is now a better way to get these important measurements.
By Nic Wilson and Juha Paldanius, Vaisala, Germany
Making accurate wind measurements in difficult site conditions can be challenging, but the development of the wind energy industry has meant that high quality wind data has become an economic necessity. Multi-million investment decisions are being based on bankable datasets. Over the years mechanical anemometers have become the industry standard for wind speed measurement despite their non-ideal performance in difficult conditions. But with a better understanding of ultrasonic wind sensor functionality, its trade-offs and advantages, perhaps there is now a better way to get these important measurements.By Nic Wilson and Juha Paldanius, Vaisala, Germany
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