NREL to Partner with Second Wind Inc on Sodar Research

Under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), NREL and Second Wind will conduct research correlating the Triton measurements with measurements gathered from a meteorological tower, and will later include Triton measurements in the development of a new Wind Instrument Characterization System (WICS) at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) near Boulder, Colorado. The agreement is worth over $100,000 over the next three years.

Second Wind develops resource assessment technology for the global wind industry. Second Wind’s Triton is an advanced, portable sodar (sonic detection and ranging) system that bounces sound waves off the atmosphere and analyzes characteristics of the return signal to calculate wind speed and direction up to 200 meters high. Replacing a  60- or 80-meter meteorological  tower and providing much more data, the Triton is changing the way the wind industry does site assessments.

NREL and Second Wind will analyze data gathered from a Triton Sonic Wind Profiler and a nearby meteorological tower  during a 6-month correlation study completed in 2008-2009. The analysis, expected to be completed in the near term, will  characterize the measurement performance of Triton. Next, a Triton will be deployed at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) to collect long-term measurements and compare them to wind resource data being collected from NWTC tall towers.

As part of the CRADA, measurements from the Triton will also be included in the development of a new Wind Instrument Characterization System (WICS) at NWTC.

This research will lead to improvements in wind resource assessment and more accurate project energy estimates.

“This CRADA will give NREL additional experience with the latest tools being used by the industry for wind measurement,” said Dennis Elliott, principal scientist in wind resource assessment at NREL. “This research is vital as the industry moves towards requiring hub height and higher data to reduce uncertainty in the wind resource and turbine performance.”

“We are excited to be collaborating with NREL on this project as it is a great opportunity to work with internationally respected wind experts,” Walter Sass, CEO of Second Wind, said. “We are looking forward to working with NREL on an in-depth review of the Triton technology performance, and to making a contribution to NREL’s scientific research on wind instrument characterization.”

About NREL
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.