Developers and operators in the UK wind sector are increasing their resource measuring and remote sensing activity, according to renewables consultancy Dulas.
The company’s wind monitoring division saw an uptick in work from both new and existing clients in 2018, supporting over 30 wind players in managing meteorological mast and remote sensing across their wind portfolios.
According to the consultancy, the bulk of work in 2018 came from meteorological mast installation, refurbishment and decommissioning, due to wind farm operators and owners siting new masts ahead of project development, or replacements and upgrades of existing equipment
A recent Dulas report highlighted wind speeds are directly proportional to project returns, a crucial factor continuing to drive investors planning post-subsidy wind projects.
The consultancy found asset owners are increasingly turned to data services in 2018, allowing them to streamline resource reporting and support predictive maintenance to reduce costs associated with operations and maintenance work.
In 2018 Dulas performed data services for nearly 30% of its wind monitoring client-base.
Dulas wind monitoring commercial lead Rachel Munday said: “While recent UK Government decisions on support for renewable energy – notably onshore wind – have significantly and negatively affected the pipeline for future development, it is encouraging that there are developers in the industry looking carefully at how to make future project economics stack-up.
“Key to this, of course, is the quality of data provided in early stage resource assessment by meteorological masts and remote sensing from Sodar and Lidar.”
In 2018 the company expanded its services into Europe, undertaking remote sensing work for UK based clients in Scandinavia.