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- Category: Articles
Using Wind Turbine Nacelle-Based AnemometersPower performance testing (PPT), also known as ‘power curve verification’ or ‘power curve testing’, is an on-site field test of operating wind turbines to verify the OEM’s provided power curve(s) defined in the project’s turbine supply agreement (TSA). The testing is prescribed under industry standards, namely the IEC 61400-12 series of standards, and further defined by the OEM in the TSA. Typically, it is the owner/operator who is responsible for PPT implementation, but the main driver for the test is financial investors seeking assurance that their investment will perform as expected. The traditional and typical method of PPT requires installing a meteorological (met) tower in a location that is not affected by the wakes of the operating wind turbines. The wind data collected from this free-stream, unwaked met tower is understood to be representative of the wind characteristics of its associated wind turbine. The measured power curve is determined by concurrent measurements of hub height, wind speed and turbine power output.
By Daniel W. Bernadett, Global Director of Engineering, ArcVera Renewables, USA
- Category: Articles
European Project Helps to Shape the Future of Floating WindFloating offshore wind has become a hot topic in the last few years. The technology promises access to ideal wind conditions previously out of reach, higher acceptance by society and less environmental impact compared with bottom-fixed wind foundations. Despite numerous advantages, no project has reached industrial scale yet. The main reason is the relative degree of technical immaturity and the total costs. Factors such as increased complexity resulting from the additional motion of floating platforms, added material demand for moorings and substructure, a lack of adequate port infrastructure and a lack of consensus on substructure design and mooring configuration, which prevent the benefit from production scaling effects, are some of the main reasons for this reality. The need for innovation is a strong driver within the research community to reduce these costs.
By Robert Behrens de Luna, Project Manager, FLOATECH Project, Germany
- Category: Articles
Power Performance Air Density Comparison Using Met Masts and LidarsAir density is critical for wind turbine energy predictions and power performance measurements. Typically, pressure, temperature and relative humidity sensors installed on a hub-height meteorological mast are used to calculate the air density.
By Ellie Weyer and Linda Sloka, UL Solutions, USA
- Category: Articles
Overcoming the Limitations of Traditional Wind MeasurementOur world is in a transitionary phase, with climate change and the need for sustainable energy production surfacing as two of the most critical issues in our lifetime. As we grapple with this new reality, renewable energy – such as wind power – has moved from the outskirts to the front lines as countries strive to achieve net-zero emissions and expand their renewable energy capacity. By revolutionising wind measurement, lidar technology has become the go-to option for overcoming the limitations of traditional wind measurement. Lidar helps to address modern wind measurement challenges and opens up new opportunities by changing how the industry builds and operates wind energy projects.
By Matthieu Boquet, Head of Strategy and Market Development, Vaisala, France
- Category: Articles
Combining SAR Measurements, Models, Lidar and Artificial IntelligenceOffshore wind resource assessment (WRA) is a challenge due to the scarcity of measurements at hub height. The 18-year database of European synthetic aperture radars (SAR) provides worldwide sea surface wind measurements at 1-kilometre resolution. Through an innovative vertical extrapolation methodology these long-term, wide, high-resolution observations can complement in situ observations and mesoscale modelling for offshore WRA. The methodology is based on four steps: derivation of the 10-minute SAR surface winds from SAR sea surface roughness, a site- and time-independent machine learning algorithm based on a large buoy network to correct SAR surface winds, extrapolation up to 250 metres based on a second machine learning algorithm trained with in situ observations and physical parameters from a high-resolution mesoscale model related to atmospheric stability, and a final post-processing step to correct for low temporal sampling of the SAR database and to retrieve wind statistics.
By Mauricio Fragoso, Director, Energies and Infrastructure Monitoring, CLS, France
- Category: Articles
An Open Tool and Community to Support Earth Decarbonisation
To meet decarbonisation targets, large investments are needed and digital tools are essential to minimise costs for citizens. The open paradigm composed of open data and open-source tools has the potential to break down costs and improve transparent decision-making. In this article, we describe how the open research initiative PyPSA meets Earth is creating a worldwide community that welcomes anybody contributing towards open tools, like PyPSA-Earth, to support the energy transition.
In particular, we describe how the PyPSA-Earth modelling tool is able to identify the least-cost energy mix for the energy system of any country in the world, while meeting environmental targets. A case study of Saudi Arabia shows that PyPSA-Earth could help the country achieve its Vision 2030 goals, reducing emissions by 50% and transitioning away from fossil-fuel-based generation methods. This proves that open energy modelling is state-of-the-art with strong applications in industry and policy decision-making.
By Dhruv Suri, Davide Fioriti, Maximilian Parzen, Stuart Daniel James, Ekaterina Fedotova
- Category: Articles
How Smart Curtailment Systems Can Improve Wind Farm RevenuesBat fatalities resulting from collisions with wind turbines have been extensively documented at operating wind farms throughout the world, but they are of particular concern in the USA, where the ranges of several endangered bat species overlap with a large number of operating wind farms. One leading mitigation measure involves curtailing the turbines during relatively low wind speed periods when bats are likely to be present. This has been shown to reduce bat fatalities significantly. While curtailment helps reduce bat mortality, it comes at the cost of lost revenue because the turbines are not producing power even though the wind is blowing. A better way to approach mitigation is to use a smart curtailment system that detects bat activity and modifies the operation of the turbines accordingly. This article explains how this system works and its operational and mitigation benefits.
By Dr Chris Ziesler, Roger Rodriguez, Taurin Spalding, Devin Saywers, Natural Power Consultants, USA
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