Leosphere, a Vaisala company that specializes in developing, manufacturing, and servicing turnkey wind lidar instruments for wind energy, recently announced increased measurement capabilities, premium services and turnkey options for WindCube — its vertical profiling lidar.
“With renewable energy technologies continuing to advance and proliferate, wind power generation is set to take off in an increasing number of geographies around the globe,” said David Pepy, Head of Renewable Energy Business, Leosphere. “To maximize efficiency and production, a complete, accurate view of the wind profile is essential — particularly as wind turbines become increasingly larger, especially offshore. These latest WindCube enhancements provide that. Just as critical, our new services, including a suite of validation options through our partnership with DNV GL, will increase lidar operational continuity and maximize uptime. Combined, these new improvements empower wind farm developers and operators to harness the power of wind energy more quickly, efficiently, and affordably.”
WindCube’s new set of enhancements provide increased performance. The benefits of these enhancements include:
- Innovative new algorithm — The system embeds a unique hybrid wind reconstruction algorithm to reach an unrivaled IEC classification while reducing uncertainty and increasing reliability.
- Increased wind measurement range and more simultaneous measurement heights — By measuring up to 300 meters at 20 simultaneous heights, WindCube comfortably covers the wind profile of even the largest onshore and offshore wind turbines, providing increasingly accurate and reliable data for wind resource campaigns.
- Industry-standard compliance — Validated by Deutsche Windguard, WindCube is IEC-classified and compliant with the highest-available industry standards.
- Improved service levels — Accelerated workshop service and a premium service level with on-site repair and guaranteed intervention delays maximizes uptime and service continuity.
- Turnkey options — Affordable new options simplify deployment and operation, with additional options to come soon.
A suite of new validation services — through a partnership with DNV GL, a global quality assurance and risk management company that delivers advisory, certification, and testing services to stakeholders in the energy value chain — maximizes uptime and simplifies third-party validations, saving organizations time and money. These services include:
- WindCube Golden Validation by DNV GL: Each WindCube is validated by DNV GL against a Golden Lidar before it leaves the factory.
- IEC-Compliant Validation by DNV GL: With this option, fully IEC-compliant WindCube lidars can be ordered and delivered, shaving approximately two months from the third-party, on-site validation process. This enables the lidar to enter service quickly while fulfilling standards’ requirements for bankable wind resource measurement and power performance validation.
- Validation Continuity to Maintain IEC Compliance: By providing a unique DNV GL-validated Laser Chain swap process in case of maintenance, this optional warranty service — which is estimated to be available by end of the first quarter of 2021 — ensures the system automatically maintains IEC-compliant validation by DNV GL during maintenance and can be immediately put back into service.
“Our partnership with Leosphere will provide the industry with unique services that will save their customers time and money,” said Fabio Wagner, Head of Section Loads & Power Performance & Wind Resource at DNV GL.
“We’ve reviewed already more than 45 of the enhanced WindCube lidars and can conclude that WindCube meets the highest standards for accuracy,” said Bastian Schmidt, Remote Sensing Team Leader at DNV GL. “The improvement of the wind reconstruction algorithm surely has the potential to help with bankability and measurement accuracy.”
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