Meteorological Field Measurements at Potential and Actual Wind Turbine Sites
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  DISCLAIMER

SUMMARY

Since 1976 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has sponsored field measurement programs at a number of sites around the United States that appear promising for wind energy utilization. From time to time a site from this group has been chosen for installation of a large wind turbine for field testing. After the installation, the wind measurement activities are expanded to simultaneously record wind data from the meteorological tower and turbine performance data.

This measurement program has produced information, not only on wind characteristics in a variety of windy locations, but also on procedures for obtaining reliable and accurate wind measurements in harsh environments. In addition, with the availability of turbine data at some of these sites, this program has provided insight into the most appropriate measurement strategies at a potential wind turbine site so that estimates of machine performance and potential hazards to the machine can be obtained efficiently. This report summarizes these field measurement experiences.

Experience in this program has shown that unless the data logging equipment is given proper protection, a high percentage of data can be lost in severe weather conditions or high moisture environments due to failure of microprocessing components. In addition, although the more sensitive sensors can provide turbulence-scale information that may prove valuable for identifying hazards to machines, a certain amount of data recovery is sacrificed under icing or high wind conditions which can damage the more fragile types of sensors. Rigid calibration and maintenance procedures must be established to assure a successful program.

Statistical analyses of high-frequency data collected at sites with wind turbines have indicated that time-averaged sampling is preferable over instantaneous sampling. Although the instantaneous samples are adequate for climatological representativeness, time-averaged samples are more realistic for simulating turbine operations and for correlating wind speed measurements at the tower with turbine power output. A sampling scheme that records data averaged over several different time scales is prescribed.

  1. INTRODUCTION

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

Product of Pacific Northwest Laboratory (now Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute

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