Following the announcement earlier this year that renewables company Dulas were selected by French company Leosphere to offer their products and services in the UK and Ireland, the arrangement already appears to be producing results.
Scottish energy company SSE Renewables has purchased a WindCube vertical profiler from Dulas to be installed at the Gordonbush Extension Wind Farm north-west of Brora, in Sutherland. It is the first time that Dulas will install a WindCube on an operating wind farm in a permanent configuration, supporting long-term operations at the site.
The Gordonbush Extension Wind Farm, will see 11 turbines installed with maximum tip heights of 149.9 metres. The original Gordonbush Wind Farm has 35 turbines and a maximum blade tip height of 110m.
The higher tip heights of the new turbines allow for a more efficient exploitation of the wind energy but also require on-site wind measurements at a higher altitude than can be achieved with the existing met-mast installation.
The WindCube, which is a lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) wind measurement device, can provide precise measurements up to heights of approximately 200 metres and avoids the need for any new meteorological mast infrastructure to be installed.
Rachel Munday, Commercial Lead for Dulas’s Wind Monitoring Department, commented
“This is one of those situations where a ground-based laser measurement system works really well in tandem with the existing tower masts infrastructure. The new WindCube provides the convenience of ground-based operation combined with industry leading measurement precision from a laser based remote sensing device.
“We are delighted that SSE Renewables, with whom we have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship all the way back to 2001, is the first customer to benefit from our new partnership with Leosphere.’
The Gordonbush wind farm extension is expected to produce electricity before the end of the 2021.
