Leosphere, a Vaisala company that specializes in developing, manufacturing, and servicing turnkey wind Lidar (light detection and ranging) instruments for wind energy, aviation, meteorology, and air quality, recently launched Windcube Insights at Wind Operations Europe 2020 in Munich. Windcube Insights is a proprietary data analytics software designed specifically for the Windcube Nacelle (previously called Wind Iris) nacelle-mounted Lidar that simplifies the wind turbine power performance testing process.
“This new tool empowers operators with International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)-compliant data to verify that turbines are performing as promised so they can maximize the energy output of their wind farm,” said Alexandre Sauvage, CEO of Leosphere. “The easy-to-use software allows operators to perform power performance testing and suggest operational optimization — quickly, accurately, and efficiently.”
Windcube Insights enables true and fully transparent data analysis and reporting for Windcube Nacelle customers — all within a web-based user interface. The software is the first in the industry to enable the upload of both Windcube Nacelle Lidar and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) turbine performance data with a simplified data synchronization process.
The method of operation includes:
- A variety of standardized Lidar and turbine data filters are available and fully configurable by the user, simplifying preparation of the data sets.
- The software leverages those data sets to calculate and display the power curve, and the complete set of IEC requirements can be applied with embedded guidelines that reference the proper IEC standard sections, making the service fully transparent and understandable.
- The production data, along with standardized uncertainties, are calculated and can be exported in the form of a traditional report table.
The handling of IEC standard requirements for issuing a power performance test (PPT) is complex, requires deep expertise, and represents a potential source of error. However, such testing is necessary for regulatory compliance, warranty verification, and turbine performance verification during both the development and operations phases. Determining the power curve of a wind turbine in accordance with recognized standards is valuable because the power curve is one of the most important characteristics of the economic value of a wind project.
The Windcube Nacelle Lidar measures the wind conditions at hub height ahead of the turbine, enabling operators and wind-turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to efficiently and accurately assess performance and optimize design and production efficiency. When fully integrated within the wind turbine, Windcube Nacelle enables load reduction, design costs reduction, and continuous production gains.
Seeing the global energy demand accelerate at its fastest pace in more than a decade, wind energy and other clean energies are increasingly becoming further engrained into the world’s equation for energy demand. Since 2010, the size of the global wind power market has increased by 35 percent, and the global market is expected to approach $125 billion by 2030.
“Without Windcube Insights, Lidar users would have to build their own software programs to analyze the data being collected by the nacelle Lidar and the wind turbine,” Sauvage said. “We’ve simplified the process of applying filters, calculating the uncertainties described in recognized IEC standards, and displaying data, ultimately creating a simple way to support the utilization of nacelle-mounted Lidar following IEC standards and industry best practices.”
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