May 11, 2014 — Best Practices

15 ways to increase risk in wind resource assessments

Patrick Strom
Sales Manager, Greenbyte

You read right, the Breeze team has whipped together a list of the 15 most effective ways to increase risk in Wind Resource Assessment. Give it a read to discover common pitfalls you can easily avoid by doing everything right from the start.

1. Not checking incoming data files daily. Every day of lost data counts. In some countries, a developer’s auction bid can be disqualified for as little as 14 days of missing data in a 2 year period.
2. Not backing up daily. Protection of raw data files is critical in case an analysis needs to be redone. There is no way to recreate raw files from text files.
3. Over reliance on common desktop programs. These generic programs were never designed for wind energy. They may crash and need updates and patches.
4. Over reliance on a single person. Often it's in the IT department “Oh, that is Tom’s job…”.It is a risk to have IT knowledge inside the head of one person. What if they leave the company?
5. Falling behind on software versions. E.g. data logger manufacturers’ reading software. These are updated as often as quarterly.
6. Falling behind on preparation of weekly and monthly reports. Manual report writing is repetitive, error-prone and time consuming.
7. Not reinstrumenting met masts every 2 years. Cup anemometers degrade over time and require replacement or recalibration after 2 years in the field. Check with the manufacturer and note the service interval.
8. Lack of awareness about warranty periods. Equipment failures might be covered under warranty, but only if reported within the 1 or 2 year warranty period.
9. Losing calibration reports. It is an enormous waste of time to hunt for paper copies or contacting manufacturers to request duplicates.
10. Independent contractors taking valuable info with them or copying themselves on data transfer. It is important to control non-company workers with regard to your private data.
11. Battery failures due to a lack of monitoring or maintenance mistakes. A simple battery failure can be very costly if a site visit has to be scheduled.
12. Poor communication and sharing within the company. Are all colleagues and departments getting the info they need on a timely basis?
13. Duplication rather than centralization of raw data. Copying data and sending emails to multiple addresses just multiplies the amount of data and the resulting handling & storage actions.
14. Continuing processes which are not scalable. Think ahead a few years about what will happen with twice or triple the number of measurement sites. How many people will have to be hired and trained to do the work?
15. Working harder and faster, but not smarter. The title pretty much says it all.

The list would of course not be complete without a solution to the above mentioned pitfalls. It's spelled Breeze Development - Wind Resource Assessment System for easier management with a centralized environment for all your wind measurement projects.