The results demonstrate that a forward-looking spinner-mounted continuous wave lidar – named ControlZephIR™ – can measure wind components upwind at multiple sampling points distributed over the rotor plane of an operating wind turbine.

When combined with the control systems of the wind turbine, such measurements can provide real-time input to the wind turbine’s individual blade pitch control (IPC) systems and in this way help compensate the effects of yaw errors and strong wind shear – potential benefits include load reduction and increased turbine energy yield, Risø says.

Torben Mikkelsen, Professor at Risø DTU, says: “Our results encourage development and integration of continuous wave wind lidar technologies in the area of active turbine control and improvement of wind turbine performance. During the test period ZephIR has shown excellent reliability and data availability was very high throughout the four month measurement period.”