Coherent Doppler Lidar for Wind Energy Research

摘要

Wind energy has become an important new and rapidly growing source of renewable energy. However, many issues for efficient energy production and use of wind energy are unresolved. Wind resource assessment requires accurate profiles of both the wind speed and turbulence statistics to identify the most promising locations for efficient wind production with minimal damage to the turbines from high shear and turbulence. Optimal control of the turbine blades requires high quality wind information upstream of a wind farm or at each individual turbine. Accurate short term forecasts of power production require accurate wind profiles at various distances upstream of the wind farm. Scanning coherent Doppler lidar is the most attractive instrument for high quality measurements of the wind fields for the conditions of interest for wind energy research. New results are presented from a field campaign at the National Wind Technology Center to evaluate coherent Doppler lidar for wind energy research. Lidar derived wind and turbulence estimates are compared with results from a nearby instrumented tower for various conditions.