Renewable energy developer Renewable Energy Systems (RES) recently deployed a third Triton Sonic Wind Profiler for wind resource assessment. RES has long acknowledged wind data analysis as the single most important predictor of wind energy’s cost. “In today’s competitive environment, our customers want rock-solid information that takes into consideration the entire wind picture,” said Andy Oliver, RES Americas’ VP Technologies. “Data collected from remote sensing technology, combined with met tower data provides this insight. In some cases it is not enough to simply extrapolate using a wind shear exponent – we want to determine how the wind speed distribution evolves with height and, when necessary, to in-fill between met towers.”
The company initially deployed a Triton to a site in the Upper Midwest under a short-term rental agreement with Second Wind in late 2009 to validate the system’s performance against an adjacent 80-m met tower and test its field reliability. The Triton passed both tests, correlating with the tower with a coefficient of 0.99, and average 80-m wind speed within 0.2% of the 80-m anemometers’ wind speed. The Triton also demonstrated its ruggedness under intense environmental conditions, with ambient temperatures frequently below -30ºC and a sustained period of 10 weeks with the ambient temperature remaining below 0ºC.
“Triton’s success with RES, in the U.S. and UK, means a lot to Second Wind,” said Peter Gibson, vice president of sales at Second Wind. “We knew that RES, as one of the most technically demanding and respected renewable energy developers and constructors, would hold us to the highest standards when evaluating our products, and we lived up to that expectation.”
Subsequent to the field test, in the spring of 2010 the Triton was redeployed to a site in Colorado to measure the effects of complex wind flows from nearby high ground. RES Americas recently added a second Triton to its wind resource assessment fleet and deployed the unit to an advanced development site in the Central Plains for hub height and above shear profile verification. In Europe, RES Ltd. also purchased a Triton for use on wind projects in development in the UK.
Second Wind www.secondwind.com
Renewable Energy Systems www.res-group.com
Filed Under: Components, Projects
