press releases
July 2008 - New office marks the start of new era for natural power in Wales
Aberystwyth, Wales – Natural Power Consultants Ltd were delighted to announce a move to their new Welsh office in Technium Aberystwyth which forms part of the Technium Wales network, a series of technology‐led business incubation environments.
Natural Power have been operating in Wales since 2005, when it opened an office in Aberystwyth, and with increasing demand for full lifecycle wind consultancy services, the company has grown significantly in Wales, across the UK & Europe in general and across North America.
Commenting on the office opening John Woodruff, Senior Development Manager at Natural Power’s Welsh office noted that "we needed larger premises because we have grown quickly and successfully by gaining significant new contracts for development work in Wales and recruiting locally – in fact our two latest additions to the family both graduated from the University at Aberystwyth and are from west Wales families. It is great that we can employ local talent to work on local projects."
For the last three years Natural Power have been working on a number of wind energy development projects in Wales including the 40MW wind farm at Brenig, recently passed for approval by Denbighshire Council, and other major projects coming forward across Wales.
"Our construction department is also now established in Wales too" added John, "They are working on Carno 2 and Moel Moelogan wind farms and about to start other projects further south. In fact we are looking for an additional construction project manager right now".
April 2008 - ZephIR® RERL approved
ZephIR® laser anemometer - 'RERL approved' for wind resource assessment
The Renewable Energy Research Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst (UMass) has successfully prepared and released an Assessment Report on Natural Power's ZephIR® laser anemometer which is based on LiDAR technology. UMass has undertaken a data validation experiment which finds that the system achieves correlation of 0.98 up to the tested height of 118m in comparison to traditional cup anemometers.
In addition, ZephIR® was shown to perform strongly in a comprehensive uncertainty analysis with approximately 50% less overall wind speed measurement error to that of the in-situ cup anemometer. Based on a total of six months wind resource assessment, UMass reported that the system is acceptable for use in wind resource assessment applications.
Highlighted in the report, UMass believes that:
"the resource assessment portion of any wind energy project development process could be improved and streamlined by the substitution of LiDAR-based measurement in place of cup anemometers.
The most important benefit associated with lidar wind resource assessment is that the LiDAR is capable of measuring wind speeds at the hub height of a modern wind turbine. When hub height data are available for analysis, access to financial capital for wind project development becomes less restrictive because wind shear extrapolation is one of the most detrimental sources of measurement uncertainty in a given wind resource assessment campaign".
It is for this reason that ZephIR® has now been approved to be added to the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RERL) suite of wind speed measurement devices.
On the release of this report Ian Locker of Natural Power commented "we are pleased to see the positive experience UMass has had with ZephIR® which is widely reflected by the other 50+ systems currently deployed with Customers globally. These systems are being used for a variety of applications from initial site assessment through to permanent wind farm anemometry, across a number of countries worldwide including Canada, the US, Greece, Spain, France, New Zealand, Croatia, Bosnia and the UK".
Click here to download the full report.
April 2008 - Natural Power announce partnership with LatWind
Natural Power announce partnership with LatWind to offer new services in Chile
Natural Power Consultants, a leading international renewable energy consultancy, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Latwind to offer new combined services to the wind industry in Chile. This announcement follows a period of strong growth within Natural Power, movements in to new markets and the acquisition of new products and services such as the exclusive licences to the ZephIR® laser anemometer technology and VENTOS™ advanced CFD wind flow modelling code.
This partnership will allow clients in Chile and Latin America as a whole to benefit from Natural Power's wealth of experience and expertise gained across Europe and North America, whilst maintaining and growing LatWind's local office staffed with skilled wind engineers.
Commenting on the partnership, Stuart Hall, Director of Natural Power said: "South America has fantastic wind energy potential. We believe that together with LatWind we have the tools, experience and local presence to help realise this potential at the lowest project risk for our clients".
LatWind, who were established in 2006, work with clients including local and foreign companies, as well as governmental institutions who want to develop renewable sources of energy in Chile.
Alexander von Pescatore, Director of LatWind welcomed the partnership and added: "This is an excellent opportunity to combine specialised local forces with the great know-how being transferred by Natural Power. Counting on such a sophisticated backup will strengthen greatly our presence in Latin America".
April 2007 - Natural Power agree ZephIR® exploitation licence
Natural Power to market QinetiQ wind speed measurement system to the wind energy industry
Natural Power, a renewable energy consultancy based in south west Scotland has purchased an exclusive license to market QinetiQ's ZephIR® wind speed measurement system to the wind energy industry.
The arrangements cover the rights to exploit QinetiQ's Laser anemometry technology, on which ZephIR® is based, primarily in the wind energy market. QinetiQ retains exploitation rights in other markets particularly defence, security and aerospace.
ZephIR® is based on LiDAR technology (Light Detection and Ranging) and works by measuring the Doppler shift of laser radiation back scattered from moving objects in the air. The majority of systems currently deployed are used for wind resource assessment, generating accurate measurements which play a vital role in the investment decision required before a new wind farm site can be developed.
Mark Palethorpe, Finance Director for QinetiQ's commercial business said: "QinetiQ has a strong pipeline of environmental technologies, many emanating from our core defence business. LiDAR technology has been used for many years in the aerospace industry, but until recently it has been too expensive and cumbersome for use in the renewable energy sector."
"The licensing of exploitation rights is a well established route through which QinetiQ takes its technology to market. Natural Power is an ideal exploitation partner for ZephIR® as it is involved in wind farm projects from an early stage, from selection, planning and construction to operating projects over their lifetime."
Stuart Hall, a Director of Natural Power said: "ZephIR® has already established a foothold in a wide range of wind energy markets across the world and is an excellent addition to our portfolio of renewable energy technologies." "Appropriate wind resource assessment is an absolute must in realising an efficient and profitable wind power project. The project risk is often determined by the quality of initial wind measurements and ZephIR® provides the opportunity to reduce that risk."