How to assess the quality of the wind

Each clean energy wind turbine is installed based on site surveys. At the design stage of the wind farm, before the start of construction, a long-term monitoring of the area is carried out. Measurements allow you to know exactly where, when and at what time the optimal strength of the wind flow.

First of all, at the future site of the wind farm, a high-rise mast is installed with sensors that measure speed, frequency, temperature and humidity. The indicators collected throughout the year make it possible to determine the points for laying wind turbines, and for financiers to prepare calculations for the payback of the project.

The construction of a 100 meter wind monitoring mast is not cheap, as is its maintenance and subsequent dismantling. But today there are technologies that allow you to get by with lower costs. One of them is Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), where all measurements are provided by a laser beam.

As part of the USAID industry program “FUTURE ENERGY”, 2 LIDAR installations were transferred to Financial Settlement Center of Renewable Energy LLP last year.

In the summer, one of them was installed near Astana. It is noteworthy that in this area, in pilot mode, it was decided to conduct parallel wind measurements with a LIDAR and a wind mast in order to compare the accuracy and error of the readings.

In the process of work, the simplicity and accessibility of operating the LIDAR installation was revealed. Information from the device comes in full. Of course, there were also technical issues related to battery life. During a working trip to the experimental site, a representative of the Modern innovative technologiescompany told the employees of the Financial Settlement Center, the Ministry of Energy and KEGOC JSC about some changes in the scheme of operation of the power supply device. Due to the climatic conditions of the north, two solar panels were replaced with a wind generator of the appropriate power (P-0.5 kW), and the installation of a battery increased the autonomy margin.

Based on the results of wind measurement studies, a detailed report will be provided, taking into account the error in the readings of LIDAR measuring instruments in relation to the wind mast.