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Wind Turbines, Energy Containers and Microgrids
An energy container is a mobile hybrid power supply system built into a container. Much of the past use and development of energy containers has been for military purposes, but they can also be used for civilian purposes, for example in remote areas as the energy supply of base stations (cells) for mobile telephony or to provide the energy needs of remote villages. Basically, an energy container is a container equipped with solar panels, a wind generator, a diesel generator, batteries and an energy management system, although these can be arranged in a number of different configurations. In this article Frits Ogg presents an overview of the capabilities, market and applications of energy containers, with particular emphasis on the role of the wind turbines to be found within them.
By Frits Ogg, Renewable Energy Consultant, The Netherlands
Globally, 1.5 billion people still do not have access to electricity. They mostly live in areas where connection to a central power grid is not economically feasible and it is in places such as this that energy containers (ECs) may have great future potential. It is expected that in future more energy will be generated locally. ECs can also be connected into other systems, for example to help to support weak grids.
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Some Results and Conclusions
This article focuses on historical component failure and the availability of replacements in both onshore and offshore wind farms. It also looks at techniques available to calculate the effect of mean time between failure of critical components and mean time to repair and how such techniques can be applied to all projects. It considers the impact of failures on year-to-year availability, the sufficiency of contractual warranties, financial planning for repairs and current best practice operation and maintenance (O&M) strategies for projects. This includes evaluating what proactive measures can be taken and how condition monitoring techniques can improve mean time to repair times.
By Steve Buckley, Team Leader, Sinclair Knight Merz, UK
All wind projects have a time-limited warranty and O&M agreement. It is therefore important that owners make early financial arrangements to deal with component replacement costs and are aware of how availability might fluctuate year-on-year and whether availability warranties written into O&M agreements contain liquidated damages sufficient to cover the lower availability years.
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Measuring Stresses and Strains in Difficult Environments
This article discusses the design and capability of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems deployed on offshore wind turbines. The application of SHM systems in difficult environments is a particularly challenging task, where ease of installation, ruggedness and reliability of equipment is essential in providing the key information of the structural integrity of offshore wind turbine towers. This is required to evaluate the structural response, status and remaining operational life of the structure.
By Paul Faulkner, Senior Product Manager, and Mark Hassell, Business Development Manager, Strainstall Monitoring , UK
Strainstall Monitoring were approached by a number of power generation companies and subsequently contracted to carry out testing on a number of wind turbines at initially four of the twelve wind farm sites around the UK coastline. Strain gauges, displacement sensors and accelerometers have been installed between the monopile transition piece and the main tower to measure displacement and strain, and on the main tower bending, torque and axial load.
