METEOTEST is a private company located in Bern, Switzerland and was established in 1981. At present, the company has 20 employees and an annual turnover of € 1.600.000. The company is engaged in the field of meteorology, more precisely in weather forecasts, wind and solar energy assessments, air pollution control and geoinformatics. In the wind energy sector, METEOTEST is specialized in wind assessments in complex terrain and under severe weather conditions, carrying out mast and SODAR measurements as well as CFD modelling. METEOTEST was involved in the planning of the world’s highest wind turbine which is located on the Gütsch at 2’300 m a.s.l. midst of the Swiss Alps.
Most recently, METEOTEST, together with the Swiss Meteorological Institute (MeteoSwiss), is coordinating the COST Action 727 project ‚Alpine Test Site Gütsch‘ which deals with measuring and forecasting atmospheric of icing on structures. One main task of the project is to monitor the behaviour of the Gütsch Enercon E-40 wind turbine under harsh alpine conditions.
In 2003, METEOTEST participated in the development of a national guideline for planning wind power plants in Switzerland. This guideline is currently considered as a standard for Swiss project developments.
Participant’s role:
METEOTEST will create together with the experts from DEWI, EWS, DEWI-OCC and from the Met-BH the wind profiles based on the SODAR and LIDAR measurements. It will exchange the information with the operators of the wind turbines and identify the relevant technical aspects. Based on the existing data about the local wind systems they will also contribute to the creation of the micro scale simulations.