3TIER Newsfeed

Subpar Solar Irradiance Undermines East Coast Project Performance

Wed, 01 Apr 2015 11:23:32 +0000

Vaisala 2014 solar study reveals role of extreme weather patterns in growing East-West productivity divide

SAN FRANCISCO (April 1, 2015)—The East Coast of the U.S. experienced up to 5% lower than average levels of solar irradiance in 2014, negatively impacting overall performance of solar sites in the region. Concurrently, the West Coast enjoyed irradiance levels up to 10% higher than average, widening the productivity gap between projects in the country's two areas of highest solar development.

This disparity is clearly seen in the 2014 Solar Performance Maps of the United States, released today by Vaisala, a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement.

While it is well-established that the solar resource of the East does not match that of the West, the Atlantic Coast has a large volume of operational capacity and it is therefore of critical importance for project operators in the region to understand the reasons behind below average energy output and whether it is due to malfunctioning equipment or weather variability.

Vaisala's 2014 study illustrates the impact of short-term, month-to-month weather variations on performance at U.S. solar projects and places them into a long-term context. This reveals frequent and significant deviations from long-term average irradiance conditions and highlights the clear requirement to analyze the effect of solar resource variability on both over and underperformance.

From an annual perspective, this year's weather patterns had an adverse effect on a large number of installations along the Atlantic Coast from Florida to Massachusetts, as well as Texas, while the bulk of projects in California and the Southwest saw an uptick in solar irradiance that may have increased overall 2014 production at many sites.

However, these annual variations only offer a high-level view of project performance. Vaisala also conducted a monthly analysis that gives a much more robust understanding of how specific weather conditions affected solar production throughout the year.

"The fact that California, for instance, had higher than average irradiance over the course of the year doesn't tell the whole story," said Gwendalyn Bender, Energy Assessment Product Manager at Vaisala. "We actually have many clients with projects in California coming to us with concerns about last year's production numbers. As seen in our study, monthly low solar irradiance anomalies had a significant impact on generation, even in the West."

The summer of 2014, for instance, was the coolest summer since 2009 and the ninth wettest summer on record within the continental U.S., with cloudy conditions leading to below average solar irradiance. This meant underwhelming solar performance in many regions where there are large numbers of operating projects, and negative media attention for solar projects recently put online - such as Ivanpah, Agua Caliente, Solana, and Topaz.

While the summer was disappointing, it was not the only or the most extreme anomaly of 2014. January, October, and December also saw atypical conditions where solar irradiance was more than 10% above or below average for much of the country*.

In terms of solar operations, routinely evaluating resource variability is critical for understanding in the short-term whether a project is performing as it should be, based on the available resource. This allows both distributed and utility-scale generators to effectively deploy maintenance and repair crews when problems, such as inverter issues or heavy snow on panels, lower production when resource data clearly show the sun was shining.

Vaisala's anomaly analysis is also crucial for viewing recent performance from a long-term perspective. It allows operators to understand whether recent conditions (low or high irradiance, heavy snowfall, etc.) foretell what can be expected throughout a project's lifetime or if it is out of the ordinary. For example, in Texas, where there is growing interest in solar and already a few operational projects, it is useful for developers and operators to understand that this past December's solar irradiance was extraordinarily low compared to previous years due to unusually foggy conditions.

Vaisala is an expert in solar measurement, project assessment, and energy forecasting. It acquired 3TIER in 2013, a company that developed the first high-resolution, global solar dataset and has helped secure over US$5.5 billion in project financing worldwide. For more information about the range of services offered by Vaisala to the renewable energy sector, please visit www.vaisala.com/energy.

*For further details please download Vaisala's 2014 U.S. Solar Performance Maps for a report of key findings from the twelve-month climate analysis.

UAE Wind Atlas Informs Middle Eastern Wind Development

Tue, 10 Mar 2015 10:36:21 +0000

Vaisala and Masdar partner to enable free access to investment-critical wind resource data of the United Arab Emirates

HELSINKI (March 10, 2015)—Vaisala, a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement, has partnered with the Masdar Institute to develop the UAE Wind Atlas - the first publicly available wind resource database in the Middle East. Launched at the World Future Energy Summit, this highly significant investment and infrastructure planning tool is free to access through the International Renewable Energy Agency's (IRENA) Global Atlas.

As the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seeks to satisfy domestic energy demand by diversifying its oil-rich energy portfolio, progressive economic policies and a supportive stance on renewable energy look set to make the country a leader within the region. While, as a desert nation, the UAE is primarily recognized for its strong solar potential, wind energy will play an important role in broadening the range of renewable energy sources and providing security of supply when solar energy falls short, such as during night time hours.

Given the variable nature of wind generation, siting and integrating high penetrations of wind energy pose unique challenges. Bringing online large volumes of wind power in a cost-effective manner demands the formation of comprehensive energy policies and infrastructure plans.

These, in turn, require a detailed understanding of available wind resources and their variability over time and space. To fill this crucial information gap, the Masdar Institute sought Vaisala's advanced wind analysis capabilities and extensive experience in large-scale renewable energy mapping efforts.

Masdar sees the UAE Wind Atlas as a mission critical tool for evaluating the country's potential, particularly due to wind's unique characteristics as a resource. "Wind information has to be generated at a number of heights and a whole altitude profile needs to be produced as different turbine technologies work at different heights," said Director Hosni Ghedira of the Masdar Institute. "Also, unlike solar, wind can vary significantly across short distances so high-resolution spatial information is vital."

With 10 years of hourly meteorological data at multiple heights and a spatial resolution of 500-meters, the wind atlas developed by Vaisala and the Masdar Institute provides a comprehensive view of the UAE's wind resource to support wind energy investment decisions. To complete the atlas, Vaisala employed an advanced ensemble modeling approach, calibrated by available observations and tested to find the most accurate fit for the country's unique local environment.

Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of IRENA, said, "The launch of the UAE Wind Atlas marks another key milestone in our efforts to bring a comprehensive clean energy resource map to the global community. The support provided by Masdar Institute's Research Centre for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment and Vaisala has been critical to help developers of clean energy projects find valuable information to assist in their investment decisions."

Pascal Storck, Global Manager of Energy Services at Vaisala, added, "International partnerships, such as the one we have developed with Masdar and IRENA, provide an extremely effective means of knowledge-sharing and serve as an industry-catalyst as we aim to integrate ever-increasing amounts of wind energy into existing power generation portfolios of fossil and renewable assets."

Vaisala was the first to map worldwide wind and solar resources at high-resolution and over the past 10 years has conducted further large-scale resource planning and integration studies in over 20 countries. Recognized as a world-leader in the domain, the firm recently embarked on a 3-year project with the U.S. Department of Energy to improve the reliability of wind energy forecasting in areas of complex terrain.

To access publicly available information from Vaisala's UAE wind study, visit IRENA's Global Atlas or the Masdar Institute's interactive portal at ReCREMA. For more information about the range of services offered by Vaisala to the renewable energy sector, go to www.vaisala.com/energy.

For further information:

Francesca Davidson
Energy Communications Expert, Vaisala
Tel +1 206 708 8544
francesca.davidson[at]vaisala.com

Vaisala Energy

Weather impacts the operations of energy providers all over the world. Energy customers use Vaisala products and services to measure, forecast, and integrate weather information into their operations to improve the effectiveness and reliability of electrical energy systems. In order to ensure efficient and continuous energy production, customers rely on Vaisala's real-time and historical lightning information to increase the reliability of the electrical transmission systems. Renewable energy developers utilize our wind resource assessment offering to understand the future performance of their investment. Renewable energy operators use our high accuracy forecasts to integrate their clean energy into the electrical grid efficiently.

About Vaisala

Vaisala is a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement. Building on 79 years of experience, Vaisala contributes to a better quality of life by providing a comprehensive range of innovative observation and measurement products and services for chosen weather-related and industrial markets. Headquartered in Finland, Vaisala employs approximately 1600 professionals worldwide and is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki stock exchange.

Understanding Variability is Key to Mexican Wind Investment

Wed, 25 Feb 2015 10:33:53 +0000

Vaisala study of Mexico shows significant performance fluctuations in 2014 and demonstrates importance of long-term climatology for wind investors

MEXICO CITY (February 25, 2015)—The 2014 Mexico Wind Performance Map, released today by Vaisala, a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement, delivers positive news for much of southern Mexico where above normal wind speeds boosted performance at many of the country's operating wind projects. Conversely, wind speeds below the long-term average in Mexico's interior negatively affected overall production at wind farms in that region.

These departures from mean wind speed highlight the importance of gaining a deep understanding of how much seasonal and year-to-year variability is possible at a location prior to major investment. This is critical as Mexico looks to encourage a substantial influx of international capital to grow its domestic wind energy sector. Since wind speeds have a direct impact on wind production, an increase or decrease of 5% can have a 5-8% impact on power production, depending on the wind sensitivity of the region.

Last year, wind speeds were 5% below normal in Mexico's interior, from the U.S. border south to Mexico City, which had an adverse effect on the performance of a number of operating projects, including the 50MW Los Altos wind farm in Jalisco, owned by Grupo Dragón. Fortunately, southern Mexico, where the vast majority of the country's wind assets are located, did not follow the same trend - and the dense wind development area around coastal Oaxaca experienced wind speeds 5% higher than average.

The Oaxaca region - in particular the cluster of projects around Juchitán de Zaragoza - is of key strategic importance to international wind energy investors. Acciona has 550+MW of operating wind farms in Oaxaca and Iberdrola owns several other large projects in the vicinity. Oaxaca's Isthmus of Tehuantepec boasts one of the strongest wind resources in the country due to unique topography that creates a natural wind funnel through a break in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges to the North and South for air traveling from North America and the Caribbean.

However, while the meteorological reasons behind the strength of the wind resource in the region are well understood, it is important to note that strong climate anomalies, both positive and negative, such as those experienced in Mexico last year, are by no means isolated or uncommon events. Should Oaxaca experience a low wind year, a large number of operating assets would experience substantial dips in production and corresponding reductions in their owners' revenue streams.

Vaisala's study underlines a growing need for ongoing operational reconciliation to better understand the root causes behind performance fluctuations and better diversify a portfolio of assets. Through its wind performance analysis, Vaisala provides valuable insight for financiers and operators, by translating meteorological and forecasting data into energy investment decisions - enabling them to perform regional portfolio analysis and quickly view the effects of weather anomalies on both existing and proposed investments.

"The ongoing growth of the Mexican wind market, particularly in important regions like Oaxaca, is exciting," said Nic Wilson, Vaisala's Regional Segment Manager for the Americas.

"But given the financial impact of underperformance, it's essential that investors, developers, and operators fully understand the possibility and underlying reasons for both above or below normal performance. This information feeds directly into long-term production estimates and helps the industry formulate strategies to diversify production sites and prepare for and better safeguard itself against unanticipated and unavoidable drops in generation."

Vaisala is currently working with the U.S. Department of Energy on a $2.5 million, 3-year study to improve the reliability of wind forecasting in complex terrain. The results of which will make significant advancements to the weather models used to predict both long-term and short-term wind energy production as well as reduce the cost of grid integration.

For more information about the range of services offered by Vaisala to the renewable energy sector, please meet with us at Stand 514 at Mexico Windpower, February 25-27, or visit www.vaisala.com/energy.

Click here to download a copy of the 2014 Mexico Wind Performance Map.

Vaisala and Puhuri Oy Partner for Better Wind Measurement

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 10:31:11 +0000

HELSINKI, FINLAND (February 17, 2015)—Vaisala is providing measurement systems and services to Finnish wind power company, Puhuri Oy, which operates three wind projects and is developing several more in Finland. The agreement includes two Vaisala Triton Sonic Wind Profilers, which will be installed in northern Finland, as well as an annual SkyServe maintenance and data management contract. Furthermore, Vaisala will deliver the planning and wind resource evaluation services as part of the measurement campaign to help Puhuri better assess the performance potential of its proposed wind farms.

Puhuri selects a maintenance-free solution, well-suited for cold climate conditions

Toni Krankkala, Project Director with Puhuri explains that on-site measurements are necessary to truly understand localized wind conditions, "It is important to get a reliable picture of wind characteristics in a region as quickly as possible. In a measurement campaign it is easiest to start with a lightweight and mobile measuring device. If the results turn out to be promising, we can confidently make additional investment in the site with longer-term measurements and the installation of a meteorological mast."

Puhuri selected Vaisala as their supplier following careful evaluation. Krankkala says, "The Vaisala Triton has a proven track record as being a reliable, easy to use, and maintenance-free solution with extensive cold climate experience. In addition, its low power consumption, and the option of using a fuel cell or a solar panel to recharge the battery, means fewer visits are needed to the measuring site. This is important, as the locations we are studying are remote and difficult to access, particularly in the winter. Finally, the SkyServe service is very user friendly, and it provides near real-time information on the measurements."

Vaisala wind energy solutions, working together with our customers

In 2013, Vaisala acquired Second Wind, a wind measurement systems manufacturer and 3TIER, a renewable energy assessment and forecasting company, both from the United States. For Vaisala, this is the first commercial agreement that combines the company's extensive wind energy expertise to benefit a single customer.

The Vaisala Triton Sonic Wind Profiler is a SoDAR system that provides accurate wind measurement data for wind resource assessment and wind farm operations. The Triton accurately measures wind speed and direction across the full rotor sweep of a wind turbine. The technology behind the Triton was specifically designed for the commercial wind energy industry. Triton provides hub height wind data, which allows wind developers to optimize project financing packages and operators to gain valuable information about conditions that may impact current performance at existing wind farms.

"This is an important agreement for Vaisala. As the number of wind energy projects increase in Finland over the coming years, we want to a part of these developments," says Kai Konola, Director of Vaisala's Weather business area. "Vaisala has world-class capabilities in developing and providing wind energy services to our customers around the world and across a variety of climates."

Nikhilesh Singh Inducted as New Director of ADB's Asia Solar Energy Forum

Mon, 26 Jan 2015 12:15:31 +0000

Today Nikhilesh Singh, Managing Director of 3TIER India, a subsidiary of Vaisala, was inducted as a new director of Asia Solar Energy Forum (ASEF) supported by Asian Development Bank. ASEF is an independent, non-partisan, and non-political knowledge society that works to address barriers and accelerate the development of solar energy in Asia by facilitating solar energy technology transfer across Asia and the Pacific and by bridging the information gap between suppliers and developers in the public and private sectors.

As an active member of the renewable energy industry, Mr. Singh is excited to bring his enthusiasm and years of experience to contribute to the work of ASEF. He has already demonstrated strong leadership and an extensive knowledge of wind and solar energy to his 5 plus years as managing director of 3TIER India Private Ltd., which was recently acquired by Vaisala, a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement.