Acoustics

Wind energy SODAR evaluation (WISE)

With the current government plans for the development of sustainable energy sources the wind energy sector is likely to be the UK’s fastest growing energy industry in the near future. There are plans for many on-shore and off-shore developments. Experience has shown that the appropriate siting, and therefore very accurate wind measurements, are crucial to make wind farms economically viable and not to spoil the landscape unnecessarily. Usually cup anemometers and tall meteorological masts are used to measure and monitor wind speeds and directions at wind turbine sites. As modern wind turbines grow taller and taller these conventional measurement techniques become problematic as they are very expensive and less representative.

With the aim to introduce SODAR (SODAR = sound detection and ranging) technology to wind energy applications the WISE programme was conducted from 2002 to 2005 by researchers and companies from Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain and the UK.

Measurements for wind energy applications such as power performance testing are standardised and carefully calibrated and controlled. Accordingly, a calibration method for SODAR has been developed. Additionally, a good understanding of SODAR operational characteristics and limitations has been gained by extensive comparative field trials. The SODAR technology has also been tested with a power performance measurement including a rigorous uncertainty analysis. This project has been an important step towards making SODAR an accepted technology in the wind energy field.

Conference papers

  • Sabine von Hünerbein, Antoniou, I, Jørgensen, H E, Kindler, D, Bradley, S G, (2006),Calibration of SODARs for wind energy applications, International Symposium for the Advancement of Boundary Layer Remote Sensing, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, July 2006. (full paper)
  • Sabine von Hünerbein, Antoniou, I, Jørgensen, H E, Kindler, D, Bradley, S G, (2005),Calibration of SODARs for wind energy applications, RMetS Conference, Exeter, UK, .
  • Bradley, S G, Antoniou, I, Jørgensen, H E, von Hünerbein, S, Kindler, D,de Noord, M, (2005), State of the art in wind measurements for wind energy, AUSWind Australian Wind Energy Association Conference, Sydney, Australia
  • Antoniou, I., Jørgensen, H. E., von Hünerbein, S., Bradley, S. G., Kindler, D., Warmbier, G., and de Noord, M.. The profiler intercomparison experiment (PIE). EWEC European Wind Energy Conference, London, UK, November 2004. (corresponding author is Ioannis Antoniou from RISO national Laboratories, DK)
  • I. Antoniou, H. E. Jørgensen, S. von Hünerbein, S. G. Bradley, D. Kindler. Inter-comparison of commercially available SODARs for wind energy applications. Proc. 12th International Symposium on Acoustic Remote Sensing and Associated Techniques of the Atmosphere and Oceans, Cambridge, UK, July 2004. (full paper)
  • D. Kindler1 , I. Antoniou2, H. E. Joergensen, and M. de Noord. Operational Characteristics of SODARs – External Meteorological Influences . Proc. 12th International Symposium on Acoustic Remote Sensing and Associated Techniques of the Atmosphere and Oceans, Cambridge, UK, July 2004. (full paper)

Reports

  • de Noord, M., Curvers, A., Eecen, P., Antoniou, I., Jørgensen, HE, Pedersen, TF, Stuart G Bradley, Sabine von Hünerbein, Kindler, D, (2005), Sodar Power Performance measurements, M. de Noord, WISE WP5 EC contract nr. NNE5-2001-297, ECN, Petten, NL
  • Stuart G Bradley, Ioannis Antoniou, Sabine von Hünerbein, Detlef Kindler, Hans Jorgensen, Manuel de Noord, (2005), SODAR Calibration for Wind Energy Applications, Final Reporting on WP3, EU WISE project NNE5-2001-297 (full report)
  • Antoniou, I, Jørgensen, HE, Ormel, F., Stuart G Bradley, Sabine Von Hunerbein, Emeis, S, Warmbier, G., (2003), On the Theory of SODAR Measurement Techniques (final reporting on WP1, EU WISE project NNE5-2001-297), Ioannis Antoniou (ed.), Hans E. Jørgensen (ed.), Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark (report available from Risø National Laboratories, DK)