Every wind farm project requires accurate resource assessments to evaluate the energy yield and profitability, but for projects in hilly, mountainous or forested areas the measurement campaigns can be lengthy and expensive. For such projects, RECAST aims to reduce the measurement time by up to 50%, increase the bankability through increased accuracy and improve the annual energy production through optimised wind farm layout design.
RECAST will reach these goals by use of modern but presently commercially immature scanning lidars (WindScanner) instead of conventional met masts. By combining lidar measurements with numerical flow models, RECAST will reduce measurement time without sacrificing accuracy, or if desired instead, achieve higher accuracy for the same campaign duration.
RECAST has the following objectives:
- to increase the technology readiness level of the WindScanner system to a user-friendly instrument;
- to integrate multi-point measurements in the WAsP microscale flow model;
- to develop a decision tool that helps the wind farm developer choose the measurement campaign that best suits his needs
At the end of the project, the RECAST method, combining all three items, will have been proven and demonstrated at a new wind farm site and is expected to be ready for commercialisation shortly after that.