GPCo Inc., a company that provides consulting services to the wind, solar and other renewable energy sectors, has partnered with Northland Power, the CORUS Centre and the Universite de Quebec a Rimouski (UQAR) to explore and develop analysis tools that aim at predicting the impact of icing on wind farms.
The study uses supervisory control and data acquisition data from the Mont Miller wind farm in Murdochville, Quebec. This site is exposed to icing and has turbines at altitudes of more than 800 meters. Thirty 1.8 MW Vestas V80 turbines have been running on the site since 2005. Data analysis has been conducted since 2004.
The project will combine expertise and analytical methods previously developed by GPCo and UQAR. The meteorological (met) data is collected from the two CORUS Centre met stations – one installed in 2004 at the foot of the wind farm, and a newer one at higher altitude. The multi-measurement stations compare 20 measurement instruments and conduct a more in-depth study of different types of icing and their characteristic parameters.
The analytical tools to be produced will benefit both consultants and developers to better predict icing impacts on future wind farms in the feasibility phase of a project, according to GPCo.
SOURCE: GPCo Inc.
