INSTALLATION OF MONITORING STATIONS - Wind Resource Assessment: A Practical Guide to Developing a Wind Project - page 81

• Expenses. Related expenses include travel, land lease fees, cellular or satellite
phone fee (if applicable), and sensor calibration. Travel costs should account
for the anticipated number of field trips required to select, install, maintain,
and decommission a site. Some field trips may require overnight lodging and
meals. Remote data transfer using a cellular or satellite phone link can add costs,
typically $50-70 per month, depending on the number and duration of calls and
the rates.
Economies of scale can be achieved with multiple towers. Most of the savings are
in labor. Roughly speaking, labor expenses for each additional site should be about
30% less than those for a single site, depending on the number of sites and their
proximity to one another. Travel expenses can be reduced if more than one site is
visited in a single trip. Savings on equipment can be realized through vendor discounts
and by sharing installation equipment (e.g., gin pole, winch kit) among sites. Overall,
the total cost to install and operate a second site is typically about 10-15% less than
the cost for the first site. The average cost per tower for a five-tower monitoring
network is about 20% less than that of a single tower.
A resource assessment program should have a project manager, a field manager,
and a data manager, plus additional support staff such as field technicians. Their roles
are defined below. Some staff may be able to perform multiple roles.
• The project manager directs the wind monitoring program and ensures that human
and material resources are available in a timely manner to meet the program's
objectives. The project manager should also oversee the design of and adherence
to the measurement and quality assurance plans.
• The field manager is responsible for installing and maintaining the monitor-
ing equipment and transferring the data to the home office. This person, or an
assistant, should be available to promptly service a site whenever a problem
arises. The installation and decommissioning of tilt-up met towers, as well as
service visits that require towers to be lowered, necessitate a crew of at least
four people. For lattice towers, which can be serviced while upright by tower
climbers, it is recommended that at least two tower climbers be present during
maintenance.
• The data manager is responsible for all data-related activities, including data
validation and report generation. Familiarity with meteorology and the monitoring
site and equipment and a close working dialog with the field manager are essential
to properly validate and interpret the data.
• The field technicians work closely with the field manager to organize and coor-
dinate many aspects of the resource assessment campaign. The technicians are
responsible for evaluating and siting meteorological towers, procuring hardware,
overseeing tower installations, conducting verifications of existing towers, and
providing maintenance support during campaigns.