BBB contributes to „Windpower Tech Brazil 2015“

BBB Umwelttechnik (BBB) participates in „Windpower Tech Brazil“ which takes place on 16 and 17 April 2015 in Golden Tulip Belas Artes Hotel in São Paulo. The conference focuses on practical challenges in the development and operation of wind energy projects in the current market environment in Brazil, also taking project financing issues into account. Consequently, the presentation of case studies and the discussion of concrete problems and available solutions will play a major role.

„This is the ideal place to promote the advantages of LiDAR technology and BBB’s and dena’s Renewable Energy Solutions project in São Paulo“, says Afonso Pacheco, General Manager of BBB’s recently opened Brazilian branch in São José dos Campos. „The insights gained from the systematic application of LiDAR technology can decisively improve the wind farm’s design“, explains Pacheco also referring to the positive effect of reliable wind data on the uncertainties of energy yield calculations: “That significantly facilitates the co-operation with banks regarding project financing.” These findings are illustrated in Pacheco’s lecture at the conference.

Laser-based LiDAR systems (Light Detection And Ranging) represent the state-of-the-art in Remote Sensing Devices (RSD) and wind measurement technology. Compared to the traditional measurement method by cup anemometers installed on met masts they provide a number of advantages: while having the same precision, LiDAR systems can be operated without permission and can easily be moved on the project site. Unlike met masts, that often don’t reach the hub height of the planned turbine, LiDAR units measure the complete area swept by the rotor blades thus allowing more reliable predictions of potential energy yields. In Germany BBB is part of the avant-guard in the sector of laser based wind measurements and is the first wind assessor accredited for the conducting of LiDAR measurement campaigns.

BBB’s Brazilian project covers the implementation of a verification site for RSD in co-operation with the University of São Paulo. Such a site is essential for the application of LiDAR technology because all systems have to be verified against met mast data before and after each measurement campaign. The project is part of the worldwide dena Renewable Energy Solutions Programme coordinated by Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena) - the German Energy Agency - and co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) within the initiative „renewables – Made in Germany“.

The planning and development of the verification site is in full progress and is supposed to be finished still this year. As part of the project-related partnership with the University of São Paulo the site will also be used for scientific research and BBB employees will hold seminars on wind energy at the Institute for Energy and Environment. The University itself is actually building up a wind energy research cluster where students are trained to meet the demands of the Brazilian wind industry.