The States of Guernsey Renewable Energy Team is deploying a Zephir lidar today at the Chouet headland in order to help assess site options for an offshore wind farm off the island’s coast.
The lidar will be located alongshore an existing anemometer, which has been monitoring wind speed at the location since 2012.
The Zephir unit will allow wind speeds to be measured at a number of heights above the ground, as opposed to the single 10-metre height that the existing anemometer measures.
The lidar will be on site for two years. It is being deployed by Exeter University, which has developed a battery power storage system for the lidar.
The system comprises a 600W wind turbine on a six-metre mast, a 900W solar array and a 10 kilowatt-hour battery system.
Guernsey Electricity will provide support to maintain the system.
Exeter University is renting the lidar from Tuv Sud company NEL for two years.
Guernsey is considering potential site options to develop an offshore wind project of about 30MW off the coast of the island.
Image: Zephir
Guernsey tunes to Zephir channel
Lidar deployed at Chouet headland to help assess offshore options
By EBS