UK offshore demonstrator project uses lidar

A UK renewable energy development organization is creating an offshore wind farm in the North Sea. This will include up to 20 pre-consented “pods”, at which tenants may deploy their prototype or pre-commercial turbines and foundations. The developer, Narec, is a UK national center focused on development, demonstration, deployment, and grid integration of renewable energy and low carbon generation.

As part of this project Narec has deployed a ZephIR lidar onshore close to the offshore location to provide a greater understanding of the wind characteristics across the site, building on existing wind assessment work. ZephIR wind data is the initial phase of a comprehensive wind measurement campaign that will eventually include offshore measurements from the demonstrator site.

Natural Power’s ZephIR lidar provides wind measurements from 10 m to 200 m above the installed device. The lower heights measured offer the opportunity to correlate with existing measurements while the higher ones will be of relevance to the next generation of offshore wind turbines, considering the heights that they could reach. Overall the lidar will offers a better understanding of the wind shear relevant to the turbine swept area.

“Potential demonstrators require wind resource and energy yield data as soon as possible so they can assess the suitability of the site for their next generation turbines,” says Nathalie Stevenson, offshore demonstrator project manager. “This deployment will be complimented by the deployment of a traditional anemometry mast and another lidar on the offshore platform, which will be installed late spring/early summer next year.”

Natural Power www.naturalpower.com

Narec www.narec.co.uk

15MW drivetrain test facility for offshore turbines

The Brits apparently think 10 MW is not a limit to turbine outputs because U.K. engineers are planning a new drive-train facility to test the next generation of higher power wind turbines, up to 15 MW in offshore applications, according the country’s Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). The test rig will be built at the NaREC Test Facility in Blyth, Northumberland, near its existing facilities for testing blades. Locating the facility onshore provides a significantly lower-cost alternative to deploying and testing offshore. Tests to complete turbine nacelles will reduce the technical and commercial risks of mass production and deployment and will also let turbine manufacturers accelerate development of new and more reliable prototypes, and increasing deployment of new turbines. A goal is to improve the reliability and performance of new technologies by assessing them early in development phases and reducing the risk in developing large multi-megawatt wind turbines for offshore use before deployment.

ETI says it has tapped Horiba Instruments for Phase 1 engineering design contract for the open access offshore wind turbine test facility. Engineering firm Ricardo will be a design partner.

UK plans 15MW drive train test system for offshore turbines

The Brits apparently think 10 MW is not a limit to turbine outputs because U.K. engineers are planning a new drive-train facility to test the next generation of higher power wind turbines, up to 15 MW in offshore applications, according the country’s Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). The test rig will be built at the NaREC Test Facility in Blyth, Northumberland, near its existing facilities for testing blades. Locating the facility onshore provides a significantly lower-cost alternative to deploying and testing offshore. Tests to complete turbine nacelles will reduce the technical and commercial risks of mass production and deployment and will also let turbine manufacturers accelerate development of new and more reliable prototypes, and increasing deployment of new turbines. A goal is to improve the reliability and performance of new technologies by assessing them early in development phases and reducing the risk in developing large multi-megawatt wind turbines for offshore use before deployment.

ETI says it has tapped Horiba Instruments for Phase 1 engineering design contract for the open access offshore wind turbine test facility. Engineering firm Ricardo will be a design partner.