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- Category: Articles
Comparisons at Hansen’s 13MW Test Facility
Continuous up-scaling of wind turbine size into the multi-megawatt class, together with developments for offshore installation, means that there is a demand for new wind turbine configurations and technologies. High product reliability is a key factor in these developments, a requirement that is cascaded down to each component manufacturer in the supply chain. With a majority of currently installed wind turbines being gear driven, gearbox manufacturers are being challenged to deliver a drive system, at a high quality level, which will operate in a highly dynamic environment. Reliable drive train design requires good understanding of the gear unit and its dynamic behaviour, particularly in the operational conditions experienced in a wind turbine.
By Ben Marrant, Frederik Vanhollebeke and Joris Peeters, Hansen Transmissions, Belgium
Continuous up-scaling of wind turbine size into the multi-megawatt class, together with developments for offshore installation, means that there is a demand for new wind turbine configurations and technologies. High product reliability is a key factor in these developments, a requirement that is cascaded down to each component manufacturer in the supply chain. With a majority of currently installed wind turbines being gear driven, gearbox manufacturers are being challenged to deliver a drive system, at a high quality level, which will operate in a highly dynamic environment. Reliable drive train design requires good understanding of the gear unit and its dynamic behaviour, particularly in the operational conditions experienced in a wind turbine.By Ben Marrant, Frederik Vanhollebeke and Joris Peeters, Hansen Transmissions, Belgium
- Category: Articles
The Hidden Factor in Turbine Unavailability
Wind farm owners, operators and financial backers have traditionally relied upon availability numbers as the best way to predict the amount of power and revenue a given project will produce over its lifetime. Yet a cursory survey of turbine vendors and industry consultants reveals enormous discrepancies concerning the calculation of availability.
By Craig Christenson, Vice President of Engineering, Clipper Windpower, USA
Wind farm owners, operators and financial backers have traditionally relied upon availability numbers as the best way to predict the amount of power and revenue a given project will produce over its lifetime. Yet a cursory survey of turbine vendors and industry consultants reveals enormous discrepancies concerning the calculation of availability.By Craig Christenson, Vice President of Engineering, Clipper Windpower, USA
- Category: Articles
A Question of Goals – All Electric?
From its beginnings the wind industry has recognised the profound need for equitable and environmentally acceptable methods for harvesting energy from naturally occurring renewable resources. It is also recognised today that many different methodologies need to be employed to supply power to the myriad applications that house, feed, protect and transport us around the planet. Equally, it is recognised that the pressures for more and better alternatives grow as the environment struggles to maintain its natural, life-sustaining, balance. This article discusses how W2, in its development of the WindWing/WaterWing system, has attempted to address the long-term requirement for wind harvesting that does not have severe economic and environmental consequences.
By Gene R. Kelley, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, W2 Energy Development Corporation, USA
From its beginnings the wind industry has recognised the profound need for equitable and environmentally acceptable methods for harvesting energy from naturally occurring renewable resources. It is also recognised today that many different methodologies need to be employed to supply power to the myriad applications that house, feed, protect and transport us around the planet. Equally, it is recognised that the pressures for more and better alternatives grow as the environment struggles to maintain its natural, life-sustaining, balance. This article discusses how W2, in its development of the WindWing/WaterWing system, has attempted to address the long-term requirement for wind harvesting that does not have severe economic and environmental consequences.By Gene R. Kelley, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, W2 Energy Development Corporation, USA
- Category: Articles
Mapping and Forecasting Icing on Structures
More and more wind energy projects are situated in areas affected by icing, such as Canada, Scandinavia and the Alps. Icing causes a decrease in power output and an increase in risk (e.g. by ice throw). For that reason collecting information about icing conditions is a crucial part of site assessment in many regions of the world. Additionally, icing forecasts are important when operating a wind farm under icing conditions in order to reach optimal performance. Icing itself is difficult to measure and a dense observation network is mostly missing. Numerical weather forecast models have the potential to fill the gap. In this article, a coupled model system consisting of a weather forecast model and an icing algorithm that simulates ice accretion on a cylindrical structure is presented. The system’s ability to simulate icing events is investigated. Additionally, the use of model simulations for mapping icing frequencies is shown. Finally, other information gained from model simulations and future challenges are discussed.
By Silke Dierer and Rene Cattin, Meteotest, Thomas Grünewald and Michael Lehnin, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research and Philippe Steiner, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, Switzerland
More and more wind energy projects are situated in areas affected by icing, such as Canada, Scandinavia and the Alps. Icing causes a decrease in power output and an increase in risk (e.g. by ice throw). For that reason collecting information about icing conditions is a crucial part of site assessment in many regions of the world. Additionally, icing forecasts are important when operating a wind farm under icing conditions in order to reach optimal performance. Icing itself is difficult to measure and a dense observation network is mostly missing. Numerical weather forecast models have the potential to fill the gap. In this article, a coupled model system consisting of a weather forecast model and an icing algorithm that simulates ice accretion on a cylindrical structure is presented. The system’s ability to simulate icing events is investigated. Additionally, the use of model simulations for mapping icing frequencies is shown. Finally, other information gained from model simulations and future challenges are discussed.By Silke Dierer and Rene Cattin, Meteotest, Thomas Grünewald and Michael Lehnin, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research and Philippe Steiner, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, Switzerland
- Category: Articles
A Novel Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Concept
The new European targets for wind energy give a strategic role to offshore wind energy. Over the next ten years, offshore power installation is expected to grow by 28% each year (EWEA report 2009). These high expectations require a large reduction in costs and the exploitation of sites not yet suitable for offshore wind technology. It will not be possible to produce offshore wind energy by just moving current onshore wind energy technology out into shallow waters.
By L. Vita, U.S. Paulsen, T.F. Pedersen, H.A. Madsen and F. Rasmussen, Risø DTU Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
The new European targets for wind energy give a strategic role to offshore wind energy. Over the next ten years, offshore power installation is expected to grow by 28% each year (EWEA report 2009). These high expectations require a large reduction in costs and the exploitation of sites not yet suitable for offshore wind technology. It will not be possible to produce offshore wind energy by just moving current onshore wind energy technology out into shallow waters.By L. Vita, U.S. Paulsen, T.F. Pedersen, H.A. Madsen and F. Rasmussen, Risø DTU Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
- Category: Articles
The New VDI 3834 Guideline Closes a Gap – Less Vibration is Better
Condition-based maintenance of wind turbines not only involves maintenance but also encompasses servicing, inspection, measurement and evaluation of the condition of the unit. The current condition can be evaluated on the basis of machine-specific overall vibration values. Until now, overall vibration values had not been defined for wind turbines. In fact, ISO 10816-3 explicitly excludes wind power plants. The new VDI 3834 closes this gap, as shown in Sheet 1, which covers vibration values for wind turbines up to 3MW.
By Dr Edwin Becker, Head of Service & Diagnostic Centre, Prüftechnik Condition Monitoring, Germany
Condition-based maintenance of wind turbines not only involves maintenance but also encompasses servicing, inspection, measurement and evaluation of the condition of the unit. The current condition can be evaluated on the basis of machine-specific overall vibration values. Until now, overall vibration values had not been defined for wind turbines. In fact, ISO 10816-3 explicitly excludes wind power plants. The new VDI 3834 closes this gap, as shown in Sheet 1, which covers vibration values for wind turbines up to 3MW.By Dr Edwin Becker, Head of Service & Diagnostic Centre, Prüftechnik Condition Monitoring, Germany
- Category: Articles
A Methodology Using Cyclone Tracking
Vref is defined as the maximum 10-minute average of wind speed with a recurrence period of 50 years and is therefore one of the key parameters to be determined in the process of wind resource assessment for the planning of wind farms. Vref is directly related to extreme winds and its value decides the class of wind turbine that can be used on a site. But there is a big problem with the measurements of winds because there are no wind farms with a data record this long. Cyclone tracking provides a possible method of studying the winds experienced at a wind farm site, together with calculating a probability estimate for extreme winds. In this article we describe how CENER analysed the existing database of hurricanes, with data on wind speeds, for a period of more than 50 years.
By Y. loureiro and P. Benito, CENER National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain, Spain
Vref is defined as the maximum 10-minute average of wind speed with a recurrence period of 50 years and is therefore one of the key parameters to be determined in the process of wind resource assessment for the planning of wind farms. Vref is directly related to extreme winds and its value decides the class of wind turbine that can be used on a site. But there is a big problem with the measurements of winds because there are no wind farms with a data record this long. Cyclone tracking provides a possible method of studying the winds experienced at a wind farm site, together with calculating a probability estimate for extreme winds. In this article we describe how CENER analysed the existing database of hurricanes, with data on wind speeds, for a period of more than 50 years.By Y. loureiro and P. Benito, CENER National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain, Spain
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| #52 Main bearing replacement of a Nordex Delta N149 wind turbine at the Caramulo wind farm, Portugal, courtesy of Bruno Rocha and Bruno Silva (photographer) |
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