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Wind research buoy will collect data through winter
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After nearly two months of preliminary tests on Lake Michigan, the
research buoy that is collecting data for the offshore wind assessment
was moved onshore, where it will continue to operate this winter.
The research buoy’s placement next to the lake will allow
researchers to continue to collect and analyze meaningful wind data,
said Arn Boezaart, director of Grand Valley’s Michigan Alternative and
Renewable Energy Center. “This will be the first time a WindSentinel
buoy with laser pulse wind measurement technology will operate in
winter weather conditions, and because it’s one of only two in
existence, the manufacturers are eager to observe how it will
operate,” he said.
Boezaart said the two-month test period went very well and
yielded highly valuable information. “November and December are two of
the most robust and challenging months on the Great Lakes, so it was a
good field test of the research buoy’s capability,” he said. “The
hardware and operating systems performed well for the most part and we
learned some things that will be worked on in the coming months.”
Boezaart also said that using a floating research platform to
collect one-second wind measurements up to 150 meters high has never
been done before on the Great Lakes or in North America.
The research buoy will remain on the pier near the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s research laboratory, the same
location where it was dedicated last October. A live camera of the
buoy on the seawall can be viewed
here.
In early spring of 2012, the buoy will be placed in Lake Michigan, 35
miles offshore between Muskegon and Milwaukee.
Boezaart said preliminary highlights of the data collected by
the buoy and analyzed by faculty and student researchers from the
Padnos College of Engineering and Computing will be released before
the buoy is deployed in March.
About the wind assessment project
The primary objective of the Lake Michigan offshore wind
assessment project is to gain a better understanding of offshore wind
characteristics and dynamics, as well as potential wind energy. Other
related physical, biological and environmental characteristics related
to Great Lakes wind will be evaluated. The research will provide
information for the future development of offshore wind energy
technology.
About the WindSentinel research buoy
The research buoy, one of two such research platforms in the
world, is an eight-ton, 20-by-10 foot boat-shaped structure that can
measure wind characteristics up to 150 meters above the water using
advanced laser pulse wind sensing technology. It was constructed by
AXYS Technologies of British Columbia, and is equipped with a
Vindicator laser wind sensor manufactured by Catch the Wind Inc. of Virginia.
Learn more about the Lake Michigan offshore wind assessment at
www.gvsu.edu/marec and
follow its progress on MAREC’s Facebook page.
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