Environmental and industrial measurement company Vaisala has signed a three-year deal with Pattern Energy to supply access to historical and real-time lightning data for 10 wind farms in North America.
The data will be used by Pattern Energy to optimize blade inspection and repair programs.
Lightning damage accounts for nearly a quarter of reported insurance claims in the US wind sector, according to GCube Insurance.
The deal will see Pattern Energy access the Fault Analysis Lightning Location System (Falls), a tool that overlays the locations of projects with correlating lightning activity on an interactive map.
The system, which makes use of real-time data from Vaisala’s North American Lightning Detection Network, will allow Pattern Energy to pinpoint the location of historic lightning strikes at its sites in order to determine which turbines have been affected and the extent of the damage.
Vaisala global manager of energy sales Remus Zaharescu said: “By conducting a thorough assessment of historic cases using Vaisala’s extensive database of lightning activity, Pattern Energy’s operations team is setting a new standard for the mitigation of lightning risks.”
Pattern Energy operations engineering manager Ben Rice said: “While there is no way to eliminate the risk of lightning, Falls has helped us look back and quickly assess turbine damage, enabling us to determine whether lightning truly caused damage and exactly when that damage occurred.
“This saves a great deal of time and effort when it comes to blade inspections as well as huge costs.”
Image: Pattern Energy
