Albany, N.Y.-based AWS Truepower LLC, a renewable energy consulting and information services firm, has announced the deployment of remote sensing equipment to capture the spatial and temporal characteristics of atmospheric phenomena within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas territory. The deployment is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored Wind Forecasting Improvement Project (WFIP).
The WFIP is part of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar project funded by the DOE, which aims to improve short-term wind forecasting. AWS Truepower was selected in late 2010 to lead this $3.2 million project.
The first phase of the study includes the strategic placement of remote sensing equipment to obtain atmospheric data for a suite of models to compare forecasting results with and without instrumentation. The primary objective of this phase is to demonstrate the value of additional atmospheric observations and model enhancements on wind forecasts across the turbine rotor plane, according to AWS Truepower.
During the first phase of the field and modeling program, AWS Truepower will provide real-time, sub-hourly data to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from four sonic detection and ranging units, one wind profiling radar and one 200-meter tower at the Texas Tech University Reese Center, according to the company.
‘The ultimate goal is to improve zero- to six-hour wind forecasts for utility operators so that we can more effectively predict the timing, magnitude and persistence of wind ramp events,’ says Jeff Freedman, senior research scientist at AWS Truepower and principal investigator for the project.
