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Installation of ZephIR for Narec Offshore Wind Demonstrator Project

On 30th September 2010, Narec and Natural Power successfully completed the installation and commissioning of a ZephIR laser anemometer on the roof of Narec’s Charles Parsons Technology Centre.

Narec will use the capability of the ZephIR to measure hub height wind speeds without having to erect a large anemometry mast onshore. Data acquired during this campaign will be used to feed into Wind Resource modelling, Site Classification reporting and Indicative Energy Yield Analysis works for Narec’s Offshore Wind Demonstrator project.

Ian Locker, ZephIR MD at Natural Power commented: “We have worked with Narec for many years and this week is the fruition of our hopes to install ZephIR on this exciting offshore test site, providing hub height measurements and beyond for the offshore turbines and devices of the future.

ZephIR has itself been proven across similar test sites over the past 6 years and it is fantastic to see that it now works as the benchmark measuring device on this project.”Installation of the ZephIR marks the start of an intensive measurement campaign which will also see deployment of subsea instrumentation to measure tides and currents as well as surface buoys for measuring waves.

Later in the campaign in 2011, another LIDAR unit alongside a traditional met mast will be deployed on an offshore platform located in 32m of water approx 5.5km offshore to measure the wind conditions within the Demonstrator array. Project Manager for the Offshore Demonstrator, Nathalie Stevenson, stated “This is an important milestone for the project. Potential demonstrators require wind resource and energy yield data as soon as possible so that they can assess the suitability of the site for their next generation turbines.   

Narec are very pleased to be working with Natural Power and look forward to seeing the results.”

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