IEC 61400-50-3 Ed. 1.0 b:2022

The purpose of this part of IEC 61400 is to describe procedures and methods that ensure that wind measurements using nacelle-mounted wind lidars are carried out and reported consistently and according to best practice. This document does not prescribe the purpose or use case of the wind measurements. However, as this document forms part of the IEC 61400 series of standards, it is anticipated that the wind measurements will be used in relation to some form of wind energy test or resource assessment.

The scope of this document is limited to forward-looking nacelle-mounted wind lidars (i.e. the measurement volume is located upstream of the turbine rotor).

This document aims to be applicable to any type and make of nacelle-mounted wind lidar. The method and requirements provided in this document are independent of the model and type of instrument, and also of the measurement principle and should allow application to new types of nacelle-mounted lidar. 

This document aims to describe wind measurements using nacelle-mounted wind lidar with
sufficient quality for the use case of power performance testing (according to IEC 61400-12-1:2017). Readers of this document should consider that other use cases may have other specific requirements.

This document only provides guidance for measurements in flat terrain and offshore as defined in IEC 61400-12-1:2017, Annex B. Application to complex terrain has been excluded from the scope due to limited experience at the time of writing this document.

Corrections for induction zone or blockage effects are not included in the scope of this document. However, such correction or uncertainty estimation due to blockage effects may be applied if required by the use case, under the responsibility of the user.

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance for wind measurements. HSE requirements (e.g. laser operation) are out of the scope of this document although they are important.