Catch The Wind catches first commercial sale, launches field trial
Catch The Wind Ltd. has sold its first Vindicator laser wind sensor to AXYS Technologies, which wants to incorporate the sensor into an offshore buoy to measure wind speed and direction on the open water. AXYS has also entered an agreement with Catch The Wind that will see it integrate the sensor into fixed and floating offshore platforms, both fresh and salt water applications. AXYS, which through its license would be worldwide distributor of the product, plans to call it the Wind Sentinel — “the marine industry’s first buoy mounted with a laser wind sensor.”
In a nutshull, the company’s Vindicator sensor is a lightweight, rugged device that’s designed to be installed atop a turbine nacelle, or in the case of AXYS atop an offshore buoy. The sensor is capable of accurately measuring wind speed and direction up to 1,000 metres in front of a wind turbine, making it possible to reposition the turbine and adjust blade pitch before the wind hits. This is important because it can reduce stress on the turbines, lower maintenance costs and lengthen the life of the turbines. Being able to position the turbines in advance of the wind also improves generation efficiency.
Catch The Wind also recently announced it will be part of a field test program in Nebraska. The Nebraska Public Power District will test the sensor at a wind energy facility that has 36 large wind turbines in operation. Click here for a previous post on Catch The Wind and a link to an article written in Technology Review.
Tags: Catch The Wind, Vindicator, wind energy
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
