IEA Wind Task 32: Wind lidar systems for wind energy deployment (Working period 2016-2019)

In this working period of the Task 32, activities within the task focused on four broad topics, where each holds specific challenges and questions.

Site assessments: Today, LIDAR measurements are already routinely used for the assessment of the energy production potential on onshore and offshore sites. There is, however, still a need for further improvements with regard to costs, reliability, and accuracy, which, in turn, should lead also to a higher acceptance of LIDAR measurements.

Power curve measurements of wind turbines: Power performance measurements using nacelle- or ground-based LIDAR is a promising approach that in the past was mainly hindered from the lack of guidelines and standards.

Turbine control using LIDAR-data: The additional information from the approaching wind field from nacelle based LIDAR measurements can potentially be used very beneficially for turbine control and the reduction of turbine loads. This very promising application of LIDAR is, however, still in an early phase of development and for a broader utilization, a number of technical issues have to be resolved.

Complex flow conditions: From the basic measurement principle, LIDAR probes a very much larger volume than conventional cup-anemometers. On sites with complex flow conditions, LIDAR therefore requires elaborate data processing ("reconstruction"), but on the other hand allows conclusions about the entire wind field and not just for a specific measurement point

The role of Energiewerkstatt in the participation in this working period of the Task 32 was to act as a national interface to the various IEA-activities and to take part in the international network and the exchange of knowledge. In this regard, it is important to note, that the alpine geographical situation of many Austrian wind energy sites brings about challenges, that are otherwise hardly found in the international community of Task 32. Therefore, in several cases application examples and experiences from Austrian projects could be contributed to the cooperation.

Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States of America

Ing. Christoph Tiefgraber
Energiewerkstatt Verein
Heiligenstatt 24
5211 Friedburg
Tel.: +43 7746 28212 – 18
E-Mail: christoph.tiefgraber@energiewerkstatt.org