Second Wind Sails Toward Wind Data Collection Landmark and 30 Years in the Wind Power Industry

DALLAS, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Confirming that wind power companies are using its Triton Wind Profiler systems widely and relying on them heavily, Second Wind announced today that Triton has amassed more than 900,000 hours of global wind data and will hit the one-million-hour mark in just a few weeks.

"At the rate Triton units all over the world are now collecting data, we will easily surpass the one million hour mark in June," said Second Wind CEO Larry Letteney. "Seeing such a large data set accumulate after just two years in the field tells us that customers are using their Tritons aggressively to gather diverse data sets to make the best decisions for locating wind turbines."

Triton is a ground-based profiling unit that employs SODAR – SOund Detection and Ranging, a variation on radar but with sound instead of radio waves – to measure wind speed, direction, and other data. Reports issued by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory and ECN Wind Energy Research Center of the Netherlands in 2010 and 2009, respectively, credit Triton with accuracy comparable to that of meteorological towers, which are the current standard for wind data collection. Triton remote sensing systems give wind power companies a mobile, ground-based complement to tower-based data collection. It broadens the range of data wind companies have for siting turbines in the most productive locations possible, profiling winds as high as 200 meters off the ground.

"I think there is a great future for remote sensing," said Andrew Garrad, president of GL Garrad Hassan, one of the world's top renewable energy consultancies. "The combination of SODAR devices and traditional anemometry is a very good one, and GL Garrad Hassan is already using remote sensing data in combination with conventional methods and data."

There are 125 Triton units deployed in 15 countries across the globe. Windlab America uses Tritons to profile winds on project sites all over the world, according to Co-founder and President Nathan Steggel. "Triton's ability to capture reliable data at hub-height earlier in the development is delivering significant advantages to our wind resource studies at many Windlab projects," Steggel said.

Seattle-based Ridgeline Energy LLC is currently using Triton to help develop wind projects and its portfolio of sites represents more than 3,700 megawatts of potential electrical capacity. "Incorporating the Triton SODAR into our met campaign has significantly improved our assessment of wind shear. We have found this to be very valuable and will continue to use the Triton to validate hub height wind speeds," said Nathaniel Vandal, wind resource specialist at Ridgeline Energy.

Triton's data collection landmark is among several important milestones Second Wind has passed recently. The company is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. It recently sold its 10,000th Nomad wind resource data logger, which is destined for a prospective wind farm site in Texas, the nation's largest wind power producer. Nomad units are deployed on seven continents, from the Arctic to Antarctica, with each unit compiling data from as many as 20 weather sensors.

Second Wind ranked on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing privately held companies for the past three years, and was named a finalist in the "Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards" competition for Triton, which was commercially introduced in 2008.

"The real satisfaction in being around a long time, as we have, is getting to see what you've worked for pay off in a big way," said Second Wind Chief Technical Officer and Co-founder Walter Sass. "The company has learned a lot and done a lot over the last 30 years as wind power technology has developed. Now that wind power is a serious item on the national agenda, we're in a great position to take those 30 years of experience and turn them into 30 more years of success."

About Second Wind

Second Wind develops wind measurement systems that make wind power pay off for consumers, investors and the environment. The company's technology provides wind farm developers with the bankable wind data they need to plan, finance and operate highly efficient wind generation facilities. Second Wind's systems are making wind farm development profitable in 40 countries on seven continents. Second Wind's systems include the wind industry's leading remote sensing system, wind data logger and web-based data service. For more information about Boston-based Second Wind, please visit www.secondwind.com. 

SOURCE Second Wind