North American Windpower: Areva, SgurrEnergy Launch Wind Energy Measurement Initiative

Areva, SgurrEnergy Launch Wind Energy Measurement Initiative

in News Departments > Projects & Contracts

by NAW Staff on Wednesday 20 February 2013

Renewable energy engineering consultancy SgurrEnergy and wind turbine manufacturer Areva Wind have launched an offshore wind energy measurement campaign.

The initiative involves the deployment of three of SgurrEnergy's G4000 Offshore Galion light detecting and ranging (LIDAR) devices on an Areva M5000-116 wind turbine located in an offshore test field in the German North Sea.

The campaign will also involve the simultaneous collection of wind data at multiple measurement points by three Galion devices that will provide detailed information on the wind resource before and after it interacts with the turbine. This data, along with that collected by the turbine itself, will produce a picture of inflowing wind and its influence throughout the structure of a turbine, from blades to foundations, the companies explain.

The project will take place over a period of three to six months, and SgurrEnergy’s Glasgow, Scotland-based wind analysis team will manage the measurement campaign remotely, controlling the Galions’ scan geometries, settings and timings. SgurrEnergy’s engineers will also be involved in the deployment and commissioning of each LIDAR device at the test site in Germany.

“The laser beam setup allows us to perform analysis of three specific areas of interest,” explains Jean Huby, CEO of Areva Wind. “First, the campaign will give a detailed overview of the inflowing wind field conditions over the entire rotor area. These data are essential for gust detection and to analyze the effectiveness of our single blade pitch concepts to reduce loads.

“Secondly, the campaign will be used to study wake effects downstream of the turbine to consider the overall impact on the wind farm,” Huby continues. “Finally, the deployment of the Galion from the lower-level platform will give us the unique possibility to carry out power performance assessments, enabling comparison of our turbines at different locations.”

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