Wind Sentinnel Research

The Wind Sentinnel deployed at Race Rocks on October 18, 2009
-Estimated duration is Oct. 16 – Nov. 16 (logistics/weather dependant)
-Buoy Deployment Location – Lat: 48° 17.606’N    Long: 123° 32.370’W
-Communications – Buoy: Cellular phone
-Communications – land station: Race Rocks LAN wired Ethernet connection
.AXYSWindSentinelWe will be able to benefit by adding the information collected to the knowledge base for the reserve. It will also be useful for planning for future sustainable energy applications.

In October, 2009, Lester Pearson College had an opportunity to participate in an offshore wind assessment test by AXYS Technologies Inc. in the Strait of Juan de Fuca .See video of test in Juan de Fuca off Race Rocks
Sidney firm deploys world’s first wind buoy :
Times Colonist,October 28, 2009
Great Race Rocks was used to host the land station for an offshore buoy which is designed to record  wind speed and direction data profiles up to 200 meters height. It is anchored outside of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Data from the buoy is relayed automatically every 10 minutes by cell phone to the instrument trailer on land and is transmitted to the internet through our LAN on Race Rocks.

See the Link below to this brochure pdf with more specifications

 

 

Link for more specifications AXYSWindSentinel

We will be able to benefit by adding the information collected to the knowledge base for the reserve. It will also be useful for planning for future sustainable energy applications

Our current wind measurements done by the Davis weather instrument we have installed on the ground level, often show at least a 10 km/h difference in wind velocity when compared with the Environment Canada data from the top of the tower at 36 metres. A set of data with projections to 200 metres will provide an excellent profile for comparisons.

See this sample file on Analyzing the data as an exercise
To access the Live Streaming Data from the instrument AXYS Technologies has provided the fiollowing link:http://data.axystechnologies.com/AXYSWebView/WEBVIEW/webview.aspx
Username: windtrial
Password: axyswind
The left hand window shows the station, which if you click on will expand out to show the messages (metocean and Waves) and if you click the + beside these you will get the individual data parameters which you can plot into a graph by selecting the checkbox of the parameter you want to graph and then clicking the Graph icon at the top of that window.
You can also see a table of the data by simply clicking on the message (click on the 1 MetOcean name and a table will appear on the RHS window with all the data) 

Times Colonist Article on Wind buoy deployed at RR

Sidney firm deploys world’s first wind buoy :
Times Colonist,October 28, 2009
http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Sidney+firm+deploys+world+first+wind+buoy/2153639/story.html

Sidney’s AXYS Technologies has deployed the world’s first offshore wind resource assessment buoy near Race Rocks in order to test the machine prior to its commercial launch.

The WindSentinel was launched this week to compare wind data collected on the moving buoy to wind data collected from a station on Race Rocks about a half kilometre away.

The WindSentinel is designed to assist offshore wind farm developers in determining the available wind resource at potential wind farm sites. It is the world’s first wind resource assessment buoy capable of accurately measuring wind data at heights of conventional offshore wind turbines.

AXYS said wind farm developers have had to construct permanent offshore meteorological towers to do that work at an estimated cost of about $10 million. By contrast, a basic WindSentinel model is approximately $1 million.

The test site was chosen to thoroughly assess the buoy’s capabilities as the waters at Race Rocks see currents of between five and six knots, waves measuring between two and four metres high and winds up to 50 knots.

The results of the study are to be released in early 2010.

“The WindSentinel allows developers to collect crucial wind resource assessment data more accurately, more quickly and less expensively than every other available option,” said AXYS spokesman Dennis Stacey.
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