Second Wind, a leading provider of wind measurement technology, software and services, today announced the introduction of a new Triton Sonic Wind Profiler package to help wind farm operators meet forecasting requirements to bring their projects online.

Called Triton Ops, the package includes a Triton configured for permanent installation and high-speed communications. Specialized firmware and project-specific customization integrate Triton Ops seamlessly with the centralized reporting and forecasting tools used by Independent System Operators (ISOs), wind operators and power marketers to manage energy inputs into the grid.

Wind farms frequently require reference stations to feed centralized forecasting models, but often the time required to permit and erect a lattice tower can be a significant delay in bringing a wind farm online.  “The run up to the Production Tax Credit expiration at the end of 2012 has many developers, operators and utilities struggling to commission projects in the near term.  Often we hear that wind measurement can be an afterthought in balance of plant design,” said Second Wind CEO Larry Letteney.  “With Triton Ops, we can deploy one or multiple measurement locations without the time and expense of permitting, sourcing and constructing a fixed lattice tower and for about half the equipment cost.”

“Second Wind works with operators, ISOs and wind forecasters to understand their unique and specific requirements for on-site wind measurement data delivery," states Chris Babcock, Triton Product Manager.  “Our manufacturing scale and our technological heritage in windfarm SCADA allow us to deploy Triton Ops quickly.”

Triton Ops is based on the company's Triton Sonic Wind Profiler, a remote sensing system using sodar technology to provide wind measurements across the turbine rotor sweep. Triton and Second Wind's secure, cloud-based SkyServe Wind Data Service have already been widely adopted by wind farm developers for use in wind resource assessment. On operational wind farms, in addition to serving as a fixed reference data source, Triton sodars can be relocated around the project site to assist with turbine performance, wake, and sector analysis, or used to support warranty or financial analyses of project performance. With the rapid global growth of wind energy and improvements in turbine technology, advanced wind information systems are needed to provide more comprehensive information about wind conditions.