Dong installs first-of-its-kind radar at UK offshore wind farm

Danish utility Dong Energy A/S (CPH:DENERG) has installed an advanced radar system, hailed as the first of its kind in the world, at the 210-MW Westermost Rough wind farm off the eastern coast of England.

In an announcement on Wednesday, Dong said the BEACon radar, which collects three-dimensional data on the wind flow, was a paradigm shift in wind measurements.

"We’re getting minute-by-minute 3D images of the wind flow through the wind power plant. This is a game changer for the industry. We’re no longer limited to measuring the wind at just one point, now we can document the wind field across the entire wind power plant and coastal domain," Nicolai Gayle Nygaard, BEACon technical manager at Dong Energy, explained and added that the technology provides valuable information for the design and operation of future wind power plants.

The radar system was developed and installed by Texas-based SmartWind Technologies. The measurement campaign has recently started and Dong said the initial data is already providing "a wealth of detail on how the Westermost Rough wind turbine array interacts with the evolving wind field."

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!