Industry-leading wind lidar manufacturers ZephIR Lidar have signed a new distributor agreement with Chinese firm Beijing New Energy Technologies (BNET).

The deal will allow ZephIR, manufacturers of the world's first commercial wind lidar, to tap further into the Chinese wind market: currently the world's largest, in terms of installed capacity.

Following a successful China Windpower 2013 conference, which saw ZephIR Lidar Chief Scientist Dr. Mike Harris present a session on the acceptance of wind lidar, the manufacturer has announced an important and strategic partnership with the Beijing-based distributor.

The agreement is a boost for China's already-booming wind industry, which will benefit from easier-than-ever access to affordable, finance-grade wind data. The company's ZephIR 300 is a successful, ground-based, continuous wave (CW) wind lidar system that has been deployed for over 4 million hours on projects across the globe.

The partnership sees ZephIR Lidar and BNET bring the ZephIR Dual Mode (DM) to the Chinese market for the first time. The DM provides turbine-mounted wind data for the creation of nacelle-measured power curves, in-situ turbine optimisation and yaw misalignment correction, and ground-based verifications in front of the turbine.

China has the world's largest wind power installation capacity, with 75.3 GW installed. Clean energy is set to make up 15 percent of total electricity production by 2020.

Ian Locker, ZephIR Lidar's Managing Director, said: "This agreement with our distributors BNET is an exciting opportunity to expand our operations in the world's largest wind energy market. ZephIR is currently the leading lidar in China, providing finance-grade, bankable wind data and IEC equivalent power curves for projects onshore and offshore. By introducing the Dual Mode, we can offer turbine-mounted measurements for the optimisation of wind farms – providing value and additional benefit."

Michael Hu, CEO of BNET, said he was happy to be bringing a quality product to a growing market. "The wind industry needs world-leading technology and we are pleased to provide this to our growing customer base. ZephIR Lidar's systems are second-to-none in terms of accuracy and they have been instrumental in the industry's acceptance of lidar as a resource measurement option. We are excited to have signed this agreement and look forward to a prosperous future."

At China Windpower 2013, Dr. Harris was invited to present his paper on the growing acceptance of lidar in the wind industry. The country's largest wind power fair opened in Beijing on Wednesday, 16th October and featured presentations from some of the industry's most senior figures.

His presentation, "Pioneering a revolution in anemometry: achieving acceptance of lidar in the wind industry," charted the evolution of lidar from its first use in 2003 to the present day, where its role has become important and is likely to increase.

His fellow speakers included the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) Chairman Andrew Garrad, President of Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA) Li Junfeng, and Klaus Rave, Chairman of the Global Wind Energy Council.

Dr. Harris said: "This important conference gives ZephIR Lidar a platform to show our innovative, market-leading approach to remote sensing. The Chinese renewable energy sector is forecasted to keep growing, so this is a great opportunity to tell some of the industry's most senior figures about our company, and further increase our presence in this vital market. Along with our sales agents in China, BNET, we think ZephIR Lidar is in a fantastic position to provide met-mast comparable ground- and turbine-based measurements."