We’re not sure if this is pronounced, like, Sooooo LiDAR (like, soooo last year), or Sólidaaarr (with your best Spanish accent), but there has been an interesting study on combining LiDAR with SoDAR for wind monitoring campaigns, particularly in very cold weather locations.
AQ Systems explain: “Sodar and lidar fail in uncorrelated ways — lidar loses data to winter fog, precipitation, icing, and low aerosol loading, while sodar’s acoustic signal is largely unaffected by these. A co-located, cross-calibrated “Solidar” pair fills each instrument’s gaps with the other’s, lifting 150 m coverage from 45–70% (lidar alone in winter) to a consistent >96% year-round, giving IEC/MEASNET-grade completeness without a tall met mast.”
As one of the UK’s leading installers of met masts for wind energy campaigns, we know bankable data when we see it, so you might wonder why we’re sharing this news. The answer is simple: we’re also the official UK reseller and installer of the AQ510 SoDAR system, and we hire out our own fleet on a monthly basis. We’ve recently added a Zephyr ZX300 LiDAR to our range too, thanks to our close working partnership with ZX Lidars.
Our goal is to supply the best wind measurement data possible. That means having hands-on experience with every tool available, so we can give you the right advice and service for your project.
Where this might be useful:
- Sites where it’s not feasible to install a met mast (though we have managed to install them in even the most wild of locations, so ask us to do a survey before you write off the idea!
- Maybe you’re waiting for planning for your met mast but eager to get some data in the bank in the meantime
- Perhaps you only want a few months of data, such as for a noise monitoring campaign or for air quality assessment. (Though a SoDAR by itself is perfect for this).
- If you want to get actual turbine placement measurements to compare with a fixed met mast location (it’s pretty easy to move a SoDAR and/or LiDAR around a site to get data from multiple locations).
We keep a keen eye on developments and technology related to getting the best data available for wind monitoring campaigns, so if you’re wondering which path to take, why not give us a call or get in touch using the form below!