Performance of a Wind-Profiling Lidar in the Region of Wind Turbine Rotor Disks

AbstractAs the wind energy sector continues to grow, so does the need for reliable vertical wind profiles in the assessment of wind resources and turbine performance. In situ instrumentation mounted on meteorological towers can rarely probe the atmosphere across the full span of modern turbine rotor disks, which typically extend from 40 to 120 m above the surface. However, by measuring the Doppler shift of laser light backscattered by particles in the atmosphere, remote sensing lidar is capable of estimating wind speeds and turbulence at several altitudes in this range and above. Consequently, lidar has proven a promising technology for both wind resource assessment and turbine response characterization. The aim of this study is to quantify data availability for a coherent detection wind-profiling lidar—namely, the Leosphere Windcube.To determine situations of suitable data return rates, a Windcube, collocated with a Vaisala CL31 ceilometer, was deployed as part of the Skywatch Observatory at the Universi...

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