AXYS Technologies Inc. has recently won the bid to provide a WindSentinel™ wind resource assessment buoy to the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) of Grand Valley State University located in Allendale Michigan and working in partnership with the University of Michigan and its Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute and the Michigan Natural Features Inventory of Michigan State University Extension.
MAREC will conduct a comprehensive Great Lakes wind assessment review that features offshore wind assessment and related environmental studies on Lake Michigan. This is the first time that laser wind sensor equipment will be used to measure offshore wind conditions on the Great Lakes. Funding support for the project is being provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Michigan Public Service Commission, We Energies of Wisconsin, and Sierra Club.
The WindSentinel™ will be constructed at the AXYS Technologies facility in Sidney, BC Canada, with deployment scheduled for late August 2011. At its core, the WindSentinel™ uses Catch the Wind’s Vindicator® laser wind sensor to capture wind data that will then be transmitted to a shore station where it will be analyzed and reviewed by MAREC researchers.
"The WindSentinel will give us in-the-water, real-time data using the most advanced wind testing equipment," says MAREC Director Arn Boezaart. "The flexibility and mobility of the buoy and significant cost and time savings compared to constructing a met tower will give us an in depth understanding of the potential for future offshore wind developments."
The primary objective of the MAREC project is to gain a better understanding of offshore wind energy, as well as other physical, biological and environmental conditions on the Great Lakes, which will provide information for the future development of offshore wind energy technology.