High-fidelity, hub-height wind measurement has arrived off the south coast of Massachusetts thanks to a newly installed WINDCUBE® Vertical Profiling Lidar. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), working with AWS Truepower of Albany, New York, has installed the WINDCUBE at WHOI’s Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO), located two miles south of Martha’s Vineyard in the Outer Continental Shelf.
Funding for the installation was provided by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) as part of its Metocean Initiative, designed to advance the planning and permitting of offshore wind energy in the region while reducing cost. Renewable NRG Systems supplied the Lidar and will perform biennial maintenance services from its headquarters in Hinesburg, Vermont.
Located in a fixed position on the MVCO’s Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT) platform, the WINDCUBE will provide a continuous record of the wind resource across the full vertical rotor span of wind turbines used in offshore wind farms. The collected data will be used for validation and improvement of existing wind models, as well as to increase industry and regulatory confidence in the value of the wind resources off Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The WINDCUBE will also serve as a high-quality reference in the future for validating floating Lidars that could be deployed within nearby commercial Wind Energy Areas to provide bankable, on-site data for project development purposes.
“Massachusetts’ forward-looking and targeted investments in research and infrastructure have made it the epicenter of the offshore wind industry in the United States,” said MassCEC Interim CEO Stephen Pike. “This data is essential to developers as they plan construction of their projects, making partnerships like this one with RNRG and AWS Truepower critical to the growth of the Massachusetts and U.S. markets.”
About the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center:
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) is dedicated to accelerating the success of clean energy technologies, companies, and projects in the Commonwealth—while creating high-quality jobs and long-term economic growth for the people of Massachusetts. Since its inception in 2009, MassCEC has helped clean energy companies grow, supported municipal clean energy projects, and invested in residential and commercial renewable energy installations, creating a robust marketplace for innovative clean technology companies and service providers. Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton chairs MassCEC’s board of directors. For more information, please visit www.masscec.com.
About the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution:
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit www.whoi.edu.
About AWS Truepower:
For over 30 years, AWS Truepower has been a global leader in providing technical advisory services to the renewable energy industry. It has worked on the design and assessment of over 125,000 MW of land-based and offshore projects, and has been the North American leader in metocean characterization and offshore wind planning studies. AWS Truepower was recently acquired by UL, a premier global independent safety science company that provides certification, testing, inspection, advisory, and education services. These services include offshore wind turbine and project certification as well as construction and foundation design assessments. For more information, please visit www.awstruepower.com.
About Renewable NRG Systems:
Renewable NRG Systems (RNRG) measurement products and technical services are purpose-built for the global renewable energy industry. RNRG pioneered wind resource assessment more than 30 years ago, when the wind industry was just beginning. Today, the company serves multiple stages of wind and solar project development—from site assessment to commercial operation. You’ll find RNRG products in use by utilities, OEMs, developers, research institutes, and governments in more than 150 countries. For more information, please visit www.renewablenrgsystems.com.
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