Molas NL - Nacelle Mounted Wind LiDAR for Wind Turbine Performance Improvement

  • 2,000 units have been deployed on wind turbines
  • Cost Effective – Under massive production
  • Robust Design – more than 5 years lifetime
  • Increase the performance of wind turbines – AEP and wind turbine life timeincrease and structural load reduction

Molas NL is a nacelle wind lidar which is independently developed by Nanjing Movelaser for wind power customers’ intelligent application solutions. It is a remote sensing laser device which can be installed above the wind turbine nacelle. It uses a coherent detection system based on the principle of laser Doppler frequency shift to achieve an accurate measurement of the wind vector field from the top of the nacelle to the front tens of to several hundred meters ahead of turbine rotor.

Molas NL measures and records wind data information of 400 m in front of wind turbines. After it’s connected to the main control system of the wind turbine, it can realize the functions in a variety of automated operating scenarios such as yaw control, load optimization, power curve test and so on.

0 %
structural load can be reduced
3~ 0 %
turbine AEP can be increased
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Units have been deployed on wind turbines
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Simultaneous measurement ranges

Molas NL- Nacelle based wind turbine control lidar systems

MOLAS NL NACELLE BASED REMOTE SENSING WIND LIDAR

Specifications

Measuring distance

50m-200m (NL200)

50m-400m (NL400)

50m-750m (NL750)

Measure the number of Ranges

10 

Sampling frequency

4Hz

Wind speed measurement accuracy

 0.1m/s

Wind direction measurement accuracy

0.5°

Wind speed measurement range

 0~50m/s

Wind direction measurement range

-180°-180°

Download the Full specification of Molas NL. 

Power Supply 

240V

Weight

<35kg(Optical head)

<25kg(Digital storage unit)

Range of working temperature

-40℃ ~ 60℃

Survival temperature range

-40℃ ~ 65℃(Power off)

-45℃ ~ 65℃(Power on)

Working humidity range

 0%  to 100%

Protection level

IP65(In-flight equipment)

IP66(Off-board equipment)

Anti-corrosion grade

ISO C5

Eye safety

IEC / EN 60825-1 ANIS Z136-1

Communication method

customizable

Applications of Molas NL Nacelle Mounted Wind LiDAR

1. Yaw Control

 – Correction the yaw misalignment, and improve the wind turbine generation;

– The AEP of the turbine can be improved between 2% and 4%;

2. Wind Turbine Forward Control

 – Remote sensing wind measurement, balance the load and generation performance;

– Reduce the struction fatigue of the wind turbine more than 5%;

3. Analysis of the blade loads

 – Reduce the load on the blades and extend the life time of the wind turbine;

 – Reduce the uncertainty of wind measurement done by Cup Anmometers. 

 

4. Power Curve Validation Test

 – Can achieve remote sensing wind measurement  at 2.5D in front of rotor;

– Reduce the uncertainty of power curve validation test;

– Reduce the cost for PCV test traditionally done with Met-mast and Anemometers. 

 

Certification of Molas NL Nacelle Wind LiDAR

DNV-GL Load Reduction Certificate

Molas NL working together with EFARM algorithm has been certified by DNV-GL  that the loads on tower, blades were significantly reduced comparing to the baseline. 

Windguard AEP Increase Certificate

 Molas NL nacelle wind lidar working together with EFARM algorithm has been certified by Windguard that the AEP improvement of wind turbine 

Molas NL Nacelle Wind LiDAR Project Example

Project Information:

  • Project Name: National Radio Qinghai Gonghe Wind Farm
  • Project capacity: 450,000 kilowatts
  • Project model: GW121/2000
  • Number of EFarm configurations: 225

AEP Increas of the wind turbine - Power Curve Comparison

Power generation increased by more than 3%

Load Reduction - Rotor Speed Deviation Comparison of EFarm on and off

The standard deviation of the speed has dropped significantly, which indicates expected control and load reduction effect has been achieved. 

MOLAS NL NACELLE BASED WIND LIDAR PROJECT EXAMPLE 2

Investment Return Estimation

Take the 2.5MW wind turbine, with equivalent generation 2,000 hours per year as the example. After installation of Molas NL nacelle wind lidar:

  • The AEP can increase 3%, and about 67.5k CNY income per turbine per year can be increased;
  • The structural load can be reduced by 10~15%, and the life time of wind turbine can be increased accordingly. And the equivalent income increase will be 230k CNY per turbine per year. 

In conclusion, the nacelle mounted wind lidar can increase the investment return, and in total about 6M CNY income can be increased per turbine during the life time of the wind turbine, about 13% increase. 

Note: the estmation above is also subject to the electricity sell price to the grid. 

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