Wind Farms and Weather Data | An Example

Dec 07, 2020

Wind farms and weather data are a perfect couple because weather data helps wind farms mitigate their operational, financial, and human risks.

Keep reading to find out how one of the leaders in the industry does it.

wind farms and weather data are a perfect match. These wind turbines on a hill are safer and more effective because they use weather data to plan for safety and lightning data to estimate damage

A Real-Life Example

To show you how wind farms use our advanced weather and lightning data, we thought we’d show you a real-life example.

One of the leaders in the renewable energy space recently selected Earth Networks as their lightning data provider. With global wind power solutions installed in over 90 countries, this organization needed real-time lightning data to ensure successful operation of both onshore and offshore wind farms.

Lightning is a major concern for wind arm operators because it can cause damage to wind turbines including:

Blades
Control Systems
Electronics
Batteries

In addition, thunderstorms create dangerous conditions for maintenance crews and those near the wind farm.

Lightning Data for Wind Farms

When choosing a lightning data provider for wind farms it’s important to understand how wind farms use lightning data. We have a more in-depth blog post about that, but there are two main reasons.

The first is for safety. While we can’t control thunderstorms, we can use lightning data to predict when thunderstorms are going to arrive at your location and how severe they will be.

The second reason wind farms use lightning data is for estimating damage. As you can imagine, lightning strikes wind turbines quite often, as wind turbines are basically giant lightning rods. By understanding more about a lightning strike, like its peak current, wind energy operations can better predict which wind turbines were damaged and how damaged they are. This leads to shorter down-times and increased financial savings.

This organization uses the following advanced lightning data from Earth Networks:

Classification of cloud-to ground or intra-cloud
Peak Current
Polarity (positive or negative charge)

One Source of Truth

As this organization knew first-hand, simply having lightning data or weather alerts isn’t enough. They have to all work cohesively together to be functional at a real wind energy operation.

Before relying on Earth Networks for real-time lightning data and proximity alerting for lightning, this organization used several third-party solutions to aggregate their lightning data. This resulted in different reporting parameters, alerts, and other inconsistencies between the organization’s 99 sites.

With Earth Networks, they now have one, comprehensive source of accurate lightning data. This global solution covers all of their operational areas with high-quality and high-resolution lightning data. This lightning data and real-time lightning alerts makes their operation safer and more efficient.

What’s Included?

When you choose Earth Networks for your wind energy operations, you get so much more than just lightning data or alerts. The best part is, our experts build a solution that works for your organization’s size, goals, and scope of work.

Here’s what’s included in this renewable energy leader’s comprehensive package from Earth Networks:

Real-time cloud-to-ground lightning data from Earth Networks Global lightning Network (ENGLN) delivered via API Sferic Maps and Mobile, a web-based severe weather monitoring and alerting platform
Fixed location and “follow me alerts” for wind, lightning, and other weather variables
Proximity lightning alerts, which enable the company to minimize downtime and extend lead time for evacuations by identifying trikes that come within a pre-defined (and customizable) radius of each facility
All-clear alerts
Historical lightning and weather observation data
On-the-ground weather monitoring via the Earth Networks Weather Network
Comprehensive training and support