We’re delighted to welcome back Vaisala to the magazine, a company that – primarily through its 3TIER Services offering – sets the global agenda for on-site measurements and solar resource modelling. We spoke to the one of the company’s most-respected experts, Gwendalyn Bender.
PES: Welcome to PES. For the benefit of our new readers, perhaps you could introduce the company and explain how you serve the solar PV industry?
Gwendalyn Bender: Yes, of course. Vaisala is at its heart a measurement technology company. We have served customers for nearly 80 years across a variety of industries where environmental monitoring is critical to operations, safety, and profitability.
For example, our measurement devices are used by all the major global meteorological agencies as well as at airports and other transportation systems. Weather expertise is at the core of what we do and in the solar industry, with weather as the fuel, understanding it is key to understanding plant performance.
That is why in December 2013 we acquired 3TIER, a leading renewable energy assessment and forecasting company, to expand our range of services for the wind, solar and hydro energy industries. Back in 2009, 3TIER was the first to create a high-resolution global solar dataset. This was the first tool with enough accuracy to be used worldwide to support the solar prospecting, development, and financing process.
Since then, 3TIER has built a strong reputation in the industry for its range of solar forecasting and assessment services, having supported major projects like NRG’s Ivanpah CSP project in California and helping secure over $5.5 billion in solar project financing worldwide. 3TIER Services remains a key part of Vaisala’s energy business and is very complementary to our weather measurement technologies. You see, particularly at large-scale projects, both on-site measurements and solar resource modelling are crucial for an accurate pre-construction energy estimate and reliable power forecasting.
PES: Would it be fair to say that solar measurement has enjoyed considerable growth in recent years? What do you put this down to?
