Scotland-based wind consultancy Oldbaum Services has deployed two 3D WINDCUBE 400S scanning LiDAR systems from Leosphere as part of wind resource assessment campaigns the company is currently conducting at two French offshore wind sites totaling 1 GW.
Oldbaum says its work will contribute significantly to making the best use of the wind resources available at both locations to reduce the costs associated with offshore wind development.
Leosphere's LiDAR system is able to scan hemispherically up to a distance of 10 km. It scans the wind out to sea and provides Oldbaum with a comprehensive picture of the wind resources available at both sites while returning data using low-risk, cost-effective measurements.
Prior to deployment, the 3D WINDCUBE scanning LiDAR was field-tested and validated by DNV GL on the Janneby test site in Germany. According to Oldbaum, it is the first long-range scanning LiDAR to be third-party validated.
The results from DNV GL show that the WINDCUBE scanning LiDAR significantly reduces P90 annual energy production uncertainty and meets standards such as correlations of 98% between met-mast and scanning device at long ranges, as well as mean speed errors inferior to 0.5 m/s.
"With this proof of concept, the 3D WINDCUBE 400S is set to become the reference tool for long-range wind resource assessment scanning offshore from the shore," states Alexandre Sauvage, CEO of Leosphere.
