Weather Tower for La Salle Wind Farm, Illinois, USA

Telener 360 was contracted for the installation of a meteorological tower (wind mast) for the La Salle Wind Farm, located in Illinois (United States); about 147 km from the city of Chicago. The HICKORY mast, of type TZ-90 and with a total height of 160 meters, was installed on May 14, 2021. The structure of the tower was specifically designed to withstand wind loads, and its fabrication consists of 3-meter-long triangular sections with a hot-dip galvanized coating.

The project focused on the installation of an extensive range of meteorological instrumentation in accordance with IEC 61400-12-1 Ed.2 and MEASNET recommendations. This included the installation of eight Thies anemometers at various heights (60m to 160m, with redundancy at 160m and 120m) and one vertical anemometer at 156m. Four First Class wind vanes between 56m and 155.3m were also mounted, whose orientation and displacement were meticulously calculated in situ by compass measurements. The mast also has two temperature and relative humidity sensors (at 155m and 10m), an atmospheric pressure sensor (at 155m), obstacle lights (at 155m and 85m) and a lightning rod.

A particular feature of this project was the inclusion of an SM3BAT bat detector, with the microphone at 40m and its recorder at 2m, programmed for nighttime monitoring of bat passes and pulses. All data is recorded by an Ammonit Meteo-40M data logger located at a height of 2 meters, with remote access. The system is self-sufficient in energy through three 410W photovoltaic panels and 12 12V batteries with a capacity of 20Ah.

The installation process included precise site mapping with an RTK station and detailed measurement of arm orientation of the sensors. The final heights of the sensors were adjusted considering all structural elements. The site was documented by photographs in eight sectors to assess roughness and possible obstructions. To take into account the local air safety regulations, activity for the tower was also registered with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).

DNV (Det Norske Veritas) reviewed the installation report, corroborating the content with the photos and the parameters of the data logger. Although physical verification at the tower was not possible for safety, DNV considered the report to be sufficiently detailed.  

In short, the customer was provided with an ideal technical solution for the acquisition of reliable and standardized data of the wind resource. In addition, Telener 360 not only made sure to comply with local regulations, but also worked according to the international quality standards and MEASNET recommendations, the International Network of Wind Energy Measurement Institutes. In addition, the tower has a system of self-sufficiency of renewable energy, which undoubtedly meant significant cost savings.