Buoy collects wind data on different heights. (Image credit: AXYS Technologies)

Wind farm developers are constantly challenged to design the most efficient arrays of wind turbines to harness maximum wind power on a wind farm site. Software is probably the most valuable tool for optimizing wind farm performance, and is the key to achieving higher efficiency in the future, regarding both individual wind turbine design and wind farm design.

WindSim's wind farm design software will be bundled with every sale of AXYS Technologies Inc's WindSentinel offshore wind resource assessment buoy. The two technologies are complementary – developers will now not only have wind energy data, but also the software to use that data to create models for designing more efficient wind farms.

The Wind Sentinnel is capable of measuring wind at hub height but also at higher altitudes using a next generation laser wind sensor. The company currently employs CFD (computational fluid dynamics) to identify and create wake-effect models and other atmospheric forces, for optimizing wind turbine placement on a wind farm.