WEICan - CTW Press Release
Wind Energy Institute of Canada releases preliminary test report on Catch the Wind’s Vindicator® Laser Wind Sensor
NORTH CAPE, PEI, Oct. 21, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX News Network)
The Wind Energy Institute of Canada (“WEICan”) today announced the release of its preliminary test report on Catch the Wind Ltd.’s (TSX-V: CTW.S) (“Catch the Wind”) Vindicator® Laser Wind Sensor (LWS) at the 24th Annual Conference of the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) being held in Vancouver, B.C.
Earlier this month, the LWS unit began Phase One of WEICan’s Research Development and Demonstration program at its test facility at North Cape, PEI. The objective in Phase One is to establish correlation of Vindicator® LWS wind data with various standard wind industry anemometry wind speed and direction sensors.
“The main purpose of this initial test was to provide an independent assessment of the performance, reliability and safety of the Vindicator® LWS and to determine whether it would function properly prior to field testing on a wind turbine in Phase Two,” said Paul Dockrill, Director of Technology, WEICan. “In light of these favorable results, the unit will now be installed on the turbine for further testing.”
Phase Two of WEICan testing will incorporate the Vindicator® LWS into the controls of a Windmatic 65 wind turbine at WEICan’s North Cape facility with the objective of demonstrating the impact of integrating the unit’s look-ahead and wind sensing capabilities into a turbine’s control system.
“With the development of the Vindicator® LWS, we have achieved a major milestone in the evolution of wind turbine technology and significantly advanced the growth of its operations,” said Phil Rogers, President and CEO of Catch the Wind and inventor of the Vindicator® LWS. “To our knowledge, this is the first time in the history of our industry that a laser wind sensor has ever been integrated into an operating wind turbine to report wind speed and direction for turbine control.”