Several European and American research institutes took part in this experiment to capture data on wind flows in complex terrain. Perdigão's situation is unusual with the prevailing wind direction running perpendicular to two parallel mountain ridges. More than 55 stationary meteorological masts dotting the mountains and valleys, 26 remote sensing systems, radiometers, radio probes, and an airplane took these measurements. The southern German wind energy research cluster WindForS dispatched scientists from its member organizations ZSW and SWE to take part in the experiment. They installed a laser-optical telemetry system (LiDAR) on one mountain ridge to record wind speed and information about aerosols distributed in the air. Data collected in May and June 2017 are now ready to be analyzed by the project's stakeholders.
The New European Wind Atlas (NEWA) is a research project aimed to compile a public database for predicting regional and local wind conditions. These data go to facilitate efforts to generate wind power in more efficient and economical ways. The Technical University of Denmark's Department of Wind Energy is coordinating the project. First published in 1989 by the Risø National Laboratory in Denmark, the European Wind Atlas was used to develop wind power projects throughout Europe in the ensuing years. Science has since made major strides, affording researchers the opportunity to update the wind atlas using more advanced meteorological measurement technology and computational models for calculating wind flows and potentials. Experiments at representative sites are underway in Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and the North Sea to take measurements such as wind direction, wind speed, temperature and humidity at sea and on land over flat, mountainous and wooded terrain. This information will serve to develop a model chain with a wide range of flow codes. Researchers will benchmark everything from local wind flows on the micro-scale codes to several days' worth of large flow patterns on the meso-scale. This model chain, in turn, is to be used for the New European Wind Atlas. Another effort is underway to develop a model chain for a site near a steep slope in complex mountainous terrain. It is part of WINSENT (FKZ 0324129A-F), a project to build a field-test research site pursued by WindForS.
For more reports on meteorological measurements in Perdigão, visit:
https://eos.org/project-updates/monitoring-wind-in-portugals-mountains-down-to-microscales
https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=241994&org=NSF&from=news
To learn more about wind power research at ZSW, visit: https://www.zsw-bw.de/forschung/systemanalyse/themen/windenergie-forschung.html