UMaine, NRG Systems, AWS Truepower, Leosphere form wind energy R&D partnership
The University of Maine’s (UMaine) Advanced Structures and Composites Center (Orono Maine) announced Oct. 18 a partnership intended to gather measurements of wind activity at “hub height” (that is, at a distance above the water equal to the height of the rotor on an offshore wind turbine) in deepwater locations in the Gulf of Maine. The ASCC’s partners are NRG Systems Inc. (Hinesburg, Vt.) which will supply the system that will be used to take the measurements; AWS Truepower LLC (Albany, N.Y.), UMaine’s Physical Oceanography Group, and Leosphere SAS (Orsay, France).
UMaine will design and build a floating system to house a modified WINDCUBE v2 Offshore LIDAR Remote Sensor, supplied by Leosphere, which has been adapted by NRG to the marine environment. The proven, LIDAR sensor reportedly can detect wind conditions using laser technology up to 200m/656 ft above the ocean surface. The floating system that will support it is based on buoy technology developed and tested by UMaine’s Physical Oceanography Group over the past decade in the Gulf of Maine and abroad. AWS Truepower will conduct a campaign to validate the data collected by the floating system.
Learn more, here: http://www.compositesworld.com/news/umaine-nrg-systems-aws-truepower-leosphere-form-wind-energy-rd-partnership