IEC 61400-50:2022

IEC 61400-50 ®
Edition 1.0 2022-08
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Wind energy generation systems –
Part 50: Wind measurement – Overview

Systèmes de génération d'énergie éolienne –
Partie 50: Mesurage du vent – Vue d’ensemble

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IEC 61400-50 ®
Edition 1.0 2022-08
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Wind energy generation systems –

Part 50: Wind measurement – Overview

Systèmes de génération d'énergie éolienne –

Partie 50: Mesurage du vent – Vue d’ensemble

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
INTERNATIONALE
ICS 27.180 ISBN 978-2-8322-5600-8

– 2 – IEC 61400-50:2022 © IEC 2022
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Symbols, units and abbreviated terms . 7
5 Wind measurement overview . 8
6 Interfaces between standards . 9
Bibliography . 12

Figure 1 – Overview of relationship between standards in the IEC 61400-12 and
IEC 61400-50 series . 10

Table 1 – IEC 61400 series parts which make reference to wind measurements
previously defined in IEC 61400-12-1 . 11

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
WIND ENERGY GENERATION SYSTEMS –

Part 50: Wind measurement – Overview

FOREWORD
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IEC 61400-50 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 88: Wind energy generation
systems. It is an International Standard.
This first edition of IEC 61400-50 is part of a structural revision that cancels and replaces the
performance standards IEC 61400-12-1:2017 and IEC 61400-12-2:2013. The structural revision
contains no technical changes with respect to IEC 61400-12-1:2017 and IEC 61400-12-2:2013,
but the parts that relate to wind measurements, measurement of site calibration and assessment
of obstacle and terrain have been extracted into separate standards.
The purpose of the re-structure was to allow the future management and revision of the power
performance standards to be carried out more efficiently in terms of time and cost and to provide
a more logical division of the wind measurement requirements into a series of separate
standards which could be referred to by other use-case standards in the IEC 61400 series and
subsequently maintained and developed by appropriate experts.

– 4 – IEC 61400-50:2022 © IEC 2022
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
88/827/CDV 88/863/RVC
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/standardsdev/publications.
A list of all parts in the IEC 61400 series, published under the general title Wind energy
generation systems, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
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that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding
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INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the IEC 61400-50 series of standards is to provide uniform methodologies and
requirements that will ensure consistency, accuracy and reproducibility in the measurement of
the wind. In creating the IEC 61400-50 series of standards, a distinction is now made between
the method of measurement of the wind and the various "use-cases" in other parts of IEC 61400
in which those wind measurements are applied (e.g. power performance, noise measurement,
load measurement, resource assessment). It is anticipated that the IEC 61400-50 series of
standards will be applied by:
a) wind turbine manufacturers testing prototype or serial production turbines with the aim of
determining or verifying aspects of the turbine specification where the measured wind is a
necessary input (e.g. power performance, noise, structural loads);
b) wind measurement equipment manufacturers providing instruments, meteorological masts
and mounting hardware to the wind industry;
c) organizations and laboratories providing wind measurement instrumentation calibration
services;
d) technical consultants delivering wind measurement services to wind turbine manufacturers,
wind farm developers and operators, etc.;
e) wind turbine operators who need to verify that stated or requi
...