Wind Resource Assessment
The profitability of a wind farm directly depends on uncertainty reduction during the wind resource assessment and wind turbine optimization phases. Projects risks vary from site to site, depending upon wind farm type (Onshore/Offshore), size and site complexity.
Onshore, in combination with traditional anemometry for 12 to 18 months measurement campaign, a mobile Lidar remote sensor that continuously collects 200m wind profile data is ideal to better characterize the wind resource and reduce project risk. By providing bankable data to investors and owners, the Windcube can make the difference between project success vs failure. It has already been proven that the use of a Lidar system can save millions in equity investments.
For future offshore wind farms, the Windcube 100S/200S/400S is the right choice by mapping the wind from the shore. For wind farms located further away, the Windcube allows to measure accurately the wind on stable platforms located several kilometers from the shore. In case of absence of platform, the measurement with an Offshore Lidar installed on a buoy is the most effective way of performing a cost effective wind resource assessment.

Power Curve
In order to assess the performance of a wind turbine, Power Curve measurements are usually performed. It allows measuring the correlation between the wind speed and the output power of the turbine and to compare this measurement to the contractual power curve.
On shore, the Windcube is the equipment of choice for such measurement as it measures very accurately and along all the rotor the wind speed and wind direction. For offshore applications, a Wind Iris located on the nacelle or a scanning Lidar installed on the turbine transition piece are preferred.

Performance Optimization
For existing wind farms, our solution is focused on power performance optimization. Seeing the wind exactly as the turbine sees is essential for meaningful performance analysis. Positioned on top of the nacelle, our lidars systems measure, log and characterize the approaching wind at hub height.
This information is the link often missing between your turbine “fuel”, the wind, and your energy production. It allows you to analyses your turbines and wind farms in many ways, depending on your focus of interest:
Power Curve Measurements

Yaw Error Correction

Nacelle Anemometer Calibration

Wind Sector Management

Forecasting Optimization
Power forecasting is the ability to predict the energy that will be produced by a wind farm in a mid to long-term time-line. For this application, the Lidar is the perfect tool required to measure the wind remotely of a wind farm in order to estimate the upcoming wind.
Mid to long term forecasting is also crucial in terms of data assimilation in order to improve forecasting models with high-quality data on-site and off-site with a network of Lidars. Indeed, the profitability of a wind farm is measured by the total power output over the capital investment to build the farm. That is entirely built on power forecast, hence wind energy.
R&D: Wake & Forecasting
Thanks to the versatility and polyvalence of Wind Lidars, new applications are now emerging in the wind research community, such as wake studies, wind farm forecasting optimization, feed-forward turbine control, wind farm management, etc.
WAKE STUDIES
The wake is flow region downstream to a wind turbine, which is a step-order different from the inflow to the turbine in terms of wind speed and turbulence. Subsequently, the wake generated by the first array of turbine, affects the wind that the second array of turbine will see. Since the wind inflow determines the power output and the mechanical loads experienced by each turbine, assessing wakes is a key factor for the evaluation of the annual energy production of a wind-farm and the optimization of the wind farm layout.
The combination of a scanning Lidar with a Wind Iris turbine-mounted LIDAR provides a comprehensive characterization of wake effects, at short and long distances simultaneously. It captures real-time wake effects in a wind farm, from turbine to turbine. This type of assessment can be done Onshore or Offshore, whatever the size of the wind farm and the positioning and the size of the turbines.

Feedforward Turbine Control
Our turbine-mounted Lidars fully characterize the incoming wind field, measure its turbulences, the shears and capture extreme events like gusts and wind direction changes within the necessary preview time. By incorporating those information into the turbine controller, informed and sound actions can be made in order to reduce fatigue and extreme loads on critical components, and increase the potential power extracted from the wind.
Loads
These loads reduction benefits can be placed in designing larger wind turbines to increase the Annual Energy Production, saving CAPEX by designing lighter wind turbines, and OPEX by increasing components lifetime and reducing O&M costs. This all leads to our ultimate goal of reducing the Cost of Energy and offer more competitive wind energy.
Lidar Solutions
Providing integrated Lidar solutions, at the right level of costs, reliability and performances, is the key mission of Leosphere and Avent Lidar Technology. We work with leading wind turbine manufacturers on the integration of our technology into their turbines, providing engineering and scientific expertise at each step of the project, to ensure the successful deployment of Lidar-assisted control at large scale.