ZX Lidars recently partnered with Deutsche WindGuard and ZephyScience to roll out the ZX Complex Flow Solver (ZX CFS) tool, enabling the standalone use of wind lidar ZX 300 in complex terrain.
Based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD), ZX CFS identifies, quantifies and resolves the relative differences between lidar and cup anemometer measurements witnessed in complex terrain.
“While standalone lidar measurements in flat terrain have already had a high acceptance in the past, we see the particular challenges of standalone measurements in complex terrain well addressed and appropriately treated with the ZX CFS application,” says Johannes Cordes, a wind and data analyst on Deutsche WindGuard’s wind resource assessment team. “The design and structure of this service provides the best available solution for bankable wind resource and energy yield assessment based on standalone lidar in complex terrain.”
The CFS algorithm developed by Deutsche WindGuard is optimized for ZX Lidars’ wind field reconstruction. Incorporating results from a high-resolution CFD model, it derives a set of conversion factors. Applied to the volume-based wind data from the ZX 300 lidar, which samples 50 measurement points per second, these conversion factors produce single point measurements equivalent to those of a cup anemometer installed at the same location. ZX CFS also provides guidance on where to install the lidar initially to achieve the lowest possible uncertainties.
The companies note that cloud computing delivers fast, transparent and accurate results, and uncertainties associated to inhomogeneous flow conditions within the measurement volume can thus be reduced significantly. This widens the usability of ZX 300 wind lidar standalone deployments for wind resource assessments in complex terrain with no additional on-site met mast.
Photo: Lidar measurement in complex terrain; Courtesy of ZX Lidars
