Following years of record growth throughout world markets, wind is now a mature source of commercial power generation, providing ever-larger percentages of clean energy generation.
Wind forecasting practices and technologies are a key element of this rapid deployment of wind plants, and also help provide a solution to the increasing need for variable wind generation to integrate effectively on the larger power grid.
Revolutionary changes are underway within the wind forecasting market, with the growing adoption of remote sensing technologies – including sound detection and ranging (sodar) and light detection and ranging (lidar) – that augment traditional meteorological (met) towers and anemometry. As turbine hub heights rise to 100 meters, standard met towers alone will not suffice for the rigorous early stage site assessment campaigns that are the catalyst for eventual construction of a wind plant. Navigant Research forecasts that annual revenue from met towers and remote sensing devices for wind forecasting will surpass $300 million by 2020.
This Navigant Research report examines the market for remote sensing devices and met towers for wind forecasting, as well as disruptive remote sensing-based wind turbine control technology. Market drivers and barriers, along with key technology issues, are examined in detail, and profiles of key industry players, including hardware and service providers, are included. The report also provides market forecasts for demand for and revenue from wind forecasting technologies, segmented by region, through 2020.
[mappress]
Press release, May 24, 2013