Campbell Scientific instrumentation has long been at the forefront of wind farm site surveys. The reliability and low-power usage of the dataloggers has made them ideal for offshore studies too, placed on oceanography buoys or in the case of the North Hoyle wind farm on meteorological masts.

This year, for the first time, Campbell Scientific were asked to provide instrumentation for offshore wind farm operation logging and telemetry. Working within a chain of contractors, Campbell were able to provide instruments and programming for the more complex offshore wind farm calibration masts. (Pictures and application build, courtesy of RADTech Ltd. www.radius.co.uk)



At the North Hoyle wind farm, off the coast of Wales, Campbell provided the datalogging and telemetry system for the calibration mast where a single Campbell CR5000 datalogger was able to monitor the meteorological sensors as normal, along with current profiles and wave height and direction data gathered by a Nortek AWAC wave profiler. The amount of data collected minute by minute was huge and yet the logger was able to collect accurately and transmit by radio.

The calibration mast is placed at the leading edge of the wind farm and provides data that can be used to assess farm output and turbine effectiveness. Data from the CR5000 was transmitted to the leading turbine by radio from where it was fed along the cable to the base station on the shore.

 

From all aspects of weather monitoring, to component monitoring and stress analysis, Campbell loggers can provide wind farm operators with crucial tools to reduce expensive downtime and prolong the effective life of the farm. Wind Industry professionals are talking to us about future datalogging requirements using Campbell loggers inside the turbine nacelle, allowing wind farm operators to keep an eye on the condition of the engineered components or even the stress and strain playing on the turbine. Most importantly this would allow operators to schedule maintenance for more convenient times and avoid expensive downtime. This same datalogger could also provide information on present weather conditions and/or visibility, thus enabling the logger to control visual beacons or sound foghorns when applicable. The meteorological sensors housed on the outside of each turbine can be monitored by the same multi-channel datalogger, and flexible telemetry options would allow real-time data to be provided to the shore giving operators the full picture, integrating with existing SCADA packages, all improving the decision making process and providing better assessment of the performance of the farm.