ZephIR 300 Lidar Proves Its Bankability

ZephIR 300 has demonstrated its ability for providing quantitative wind speed measurements, to an industry-approved standard and is now accepted within a Technical Advisor / Bank’s Engineers formal energy assessment of a modern scale wind farm with specific site conditions forming part of the appropriate measurement methodology chosen.

Further, the reduction in energy yield ‘uncertainty’ achieved by using ZephIR 300 provides a significant increase in project Net Present Value and Return on Equity.

An industry expert report published by Windpower Monthly has collated best practice guidelines, experience and advice from organisations including DNV GL, Natural Power, tb engineers, Fraunhofer IWES and Ecofys, and applied the findings to the wind industry’s original wind lidar system – ZephIR – which has the longest operational track record of all commercially available lidar systems in these applications.

The modes of use of ZephIR are summarised below with the findings of the report shown for each mode:

• Onshore, benign site.
  DNV GL considers ZephIR 300 to be at Stage 3 under “benign” conditions – accepted for use in bankable / finance-grade wind speed and energy assessments with either no or limited on-site met mast comparisons. In October 2012 ZephIR was the first commercial wind lidar system to achieve acceptance at this level. Further, studies by Ecofys have highlighted the anticipated Net Present Value differentials for a variety of measurement methodologies, with the most advantageous being a ‘roving’ lidar which reduces the uncertainty in energy yield by up to 3.2% on a typical 20 MW European onshore wind farm compared to a met mast only. This equates to an increase in NPV of €600,000 or €30,000/MW installed.

• Offshore, fixed platform.
  DNV GL anticipates that equivalent accuracy and uncertainty results would be obtained from an energy prediction based on data from ZephIR 300 mounted on a stationary platform as from an energy prediction based on data from a conventional offshore hub height met mast.
• Onshore, complex site.
  Natural Power provides ‘Dynamics’ conversion factors for operating wind lidar in complex terrain, converting remote sensing ‘volume data’ in to met mast equivalent ‘point data’. Dynamics conversion factors are applied to wind lidar data and are provided to the end user in full allowing for further wind analysis, whilst also providing a clear audit trail for project financing and/or due diligence. This satisfies the requirements of FGW TR 6 (Technical Guidelines for Wind Turbines, Part 6: Determination of Wind Potential and Energy Yields, published by FGW e.V. – Fördergesellschaft Windenergie und andere Erneuerbare Energien) standards and allows for the use of ZephIR 300 in a complex site.
• Offshore, floating platform.
  Fraunhofer IWES has recently successfully finished the validation of their Wind Lidar Buoy at FINO1 which confirms the commercial acceptance of wind data from the on-board ZephIR 300 lidar for use in floating offshore energy assessments, adhering to criteria within the Carbon Trust Offshore Wind Accelerator roadmap. Over 80% of the industry’s floating lidar providers have now chosen ZephIR for their platform largely due to ZephIR 300’s unique 50Hz measurements which effectively freeze any motion encountered removing the need for mechanical compensation which can add cost and complexity to any device.

Press release; Image: ZephIR Lidar