Second Wind's Technology Gains Ground in South Africa's Expanding Wind Energy Market

SOMERVILLE, Mass., Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Just six months after entering the South African wind power market, Second Wind has sold eight Triton sonic wind profilers and partnered with WISE-Wind Information Sentinel, a global wind data services provider, to support anticipated demand for Second Wind's leading-edge remote sensing technology.

Second Wind delivered and installed its first Tritons in South Africa in June 2010. Since then, the Boston-based company has taken orders for five more Tritons, including several repeat orders from international wind developer Windlab, which has a development pipeline of just over 2,000MW in South Africa. As remote sensing systems are often deployed at faraway locations, a key performance standard is system reliability. The South African Triton implementations have been highly successful, with better than 99.7 percent uptime.

"Triton has taken off in South Africa very quickly, and we see that as an indication of strong future demand," said Second Wind Vice President of Sales Peter Gibson. "South Africa is an important emerging market. The government has policy incentives in place and has announced its intention to build a clean energy economy, so we see a lot of opportunity in the near and long terms."

South Africa's wind resources are estimated by SAWEA (South African Wind Energy Association) to exceed 30GW. The country has a relatively modest 10MW of installed wind capacity today, but the government has a target of generating 10,000 GWh of power from renewable energy source by 2013 (700MW of which will come from wind). Several of the world's leading wind turbine OEMs, project developers and service providers have already established a presence in South Africa.

To support current and future customers, Second Wind has partnered with WISE (Wind Information Sentinel), a Triton Certified Partner that also provides support for Second Wind products in Australia and New Zealand. WISE will provide certified local resources (including Cape Town–based meteorological instrument supplier AfriWeather and leading wind consultant Wind Prospect) to install, redeploy, and field service Tritons in South Africa. WISE and AfriWeather will also provide installation and maintenance support services on a number of the Triton units being installed in South Africa in early 2011.

"Tritons are now an accepted part of the wind monitoring landscape in Australia and New Zealand,  in large part due to their reliability and flexibility of implementation," said WISE CEO Ian Lloyd-Besson.  "WISE is looking forward to working closely with Second Wind in South Africa to increase the use of this important development in wind monitoring technology in the region."

Triton is an advanced remote sensing system that uses sodar (sound detection and ranging) technology to measure wind at higher heights than the previous tower-based standard. By measuring wind speeds at the turbine rotor's hub height and beyond, up to 200 meters, Triton reduces uncertainty in annual energy production (AEP) forecasts. Triton's ease of deployment also streamlines the wind farm development process. Wind energy companies use Triton to study wind conditions at proposed wind farm locations and for operating wind farms.

About Second Wind

Second Wind develops wind measurement systems that make wind power pay off for consumers, investors and the environment. The company's technology provides wind farm developers with the bankable wind data they need to plan, finance and operate highly efficient wind generation facilities. Second Wind's systems are making wind farm development profitable in 50 countries on seven continents. Second Wind's systems include Triton, the wind industry's leading remote sensing system; Nomad 2 wind data logger systems; the ProMast 60, a 60-meter meteorological mast; and the SkyServe® web-based data service. For more information about Boston-based Second Wind, please visit www.secondwind.com. 

SOURCE Second Wind