Necessity is the Mother of Invention: Nacelle-mounted Lidar for Measurement of Turbine Performance

Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology allows remote sensing and measurement of the wind field at ranges from 10 m up to 300 m upstream of a turbine. These lidar measurements can facilitate determination of turbine performance, optimisation of energy capture, protection against extreme gust events and minimization of structural fatigue loading. This paper describes some of the system-driven requirements for such lidar systems and gives a retrospective view of the resulting technical developments – developments that now permit capable, accurate, reliable and economical turbine-mounted lidar systems to be realised. Example turbine performance measurement results from various lidar-on-turbine trials will be presented.