ZephIR laser anemometer wind profile assessment
Northern Lights College demonstration site
Canadian Timber Structures and Northern Lights College, in collaboration with Aeolis Wind Power, deployed a ZephIR laser anemometer for five months at the college’s Mile Zero Farm property to develop a complete wind profile for the proposed demonstration site.
The device measures movement of particulate matter in the airstream passing over the unit for the purpose of determining wind speed at multiple elevations, enabling calculation of the optimal turbine hub height.
After collecting almost 6,000 valid data points at each of six potential hub heights and extrapolating the results using 25 years of regional data, it was determined that the site will provide average wind speeds in excess of 6 metres per second at 80 metres and almost 6.5 metres per second at 100 metres.
In addition to providing vital information for the Demonstration Project, this installation and deployment was an exciting learning opportunity for the college’s Wind Turbine Maintenance Technician students. Experts from Aeolis also provided a tutorial lecture on the importance and methods of meteorological analysis in wind farm development.
