Lidar technology is transforming wind energy by providing accurate turbulence intensity and wind flow measurements in challenging terrains. As wind farms expand into complex and offshore environments, lidar’s advanced capabilities offer crucial insights for optimizing turbine performance and ensuring efficient energy production.
2023 marked the best year ever for new wind energy capacity growth. Despite increased political and societal pressures paving the way for rapid growth, this new era of accelerated wind energy expansion reveals evolving challenges. Wind farm projects demand highly accurate wind measurements to ensure efficiency and reliability as the wind industry enters new frontiers, stretching into more complex terrains, offshore sites, and other challenging environments.
The ability to ‘see’ the wind’s invisible characteristics enables project owners and operators to develop new wind farms and operate existing sites successfully. Yet two of the most significant challenges, measuring turbulence intensity (TI) and wind flow behavior in complex terrain, complicate decision making, as they still rely on traditional measurements from meteorological masts.
