Presentations

Abstract

To support the validation of wind lidar measurements at heights beyond those accessible by conventional test mast infrastructure, a verified mast-mounted lidar configuration (the “Midar”) was deployed at the UK Remote Sensing Test Site.  The Midar consists of a verified continuous-wave lidar mounted at the top of a 91 m meteorological mast, extending reference measurement heights to above 200 m. The system employs a 30-degree scanning wedge and is operated at the UK Remote Sensing Test Site jointly managed by ZX and DNV. The unit belongs to the ZX300 series which is classified up to 100m and was verified against the mast at the UK Remote Sensing Test Site from the 1st of October to the 1st of December 2021. At all heights, the DNV/IEC verification requirements were met with gradients within +/- 1% of unity and coefficients of determination greater than 0.99.  To establish the reference integrity of this configuration, the Midar was first verified over a three-month period against a ground-based lidar classified up to 200 m. Measurement heights between 120 m and 200 m were used for this verification campaign. The 200 m classification of the ZX 300e series of ground-based lidars had previously been achieved through independent deployments at two 200 m masts in Hannover (operated by Geo-Net) and Janneby (operated by Pavana).  Using the 200 m-classified ground-based lidar as the reference, comparisons of 10-minute averaged wind speeds demonstrated correlation gradients within ±1 % of unity and coefficients of determination greater than 0.985 at all heights up to 200 m, confirming the suitability of the Midar as a reference system for subsequent validation activities.  Building on this verified reference chain, the Midar was then used to support extended-height performance validation of the ZX 300e. A fleet of 25 ZX 300e units was deployed at the UK Remote Sensing Test Site with measurement heights configured up to 300 m, exceeding the height range of existing tall-mast reference infrastructure.  Across the full fleet and at all measurement heights up to and including 300 m, fleet-averaged correlation gradients were found to be within ±2 % of unity, meeting DNV best-practice acceptance criteria. The averaged coefficients of determination exceeded 0.985 at all heights, with data availability greater than 94 % throughout the measurement range.  These results demonstrate the performance of the ZX 300e at heights up to 300 m, supported by a transparent and traceable verification chain extending from established 200 m reference classifications as well as fleet performance against the Midar up to 300m. The approach also illustrates how mast-mounted lidar configurations can be used to extend validation frameworks beyond current physical mast limitations while maintaining robust reference integrity.