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- Category: Articles
The Marginal Cost to Automate the Wind Farm Grid-Intertie Substation
We have many sayings in the USA that come from our 17th century European roots. One of the sayings still heard today is: ‘penny-wise and pound-foolish’. We see a clear circumstance in which to use this old proverb in wind farm automation. Nearly all utility-scale wind farm management systems have state-of-the-art automatically controlled wind turbines, but at the electric grid-intertie, the substation is very often managed manually. It is true that some substations may have remote control capabilities, but they are still completely manually controlled, and require operator intervention for restoration. The real irony is that the cost of implementing a full auto-restoration scheme at a modern substation, with intelligent electronic protection devices, is likely to be only the lost revenue of one extended substation outage – truly ‘penny-wise and pound-foolish’ if not implemented.
By Larry D. Elliott PE, and Lawrence C. Gross, Jr PE, Relay Application Innovation Inc., USA .
We have many sayings in the USA that come from our 17th century European roots. One of the sayings still heard today is: ‘penny-wise and pound-foolish’. We see a clear circumstance in which to use this old proverb in wind farm automation. Nearly all utility-scale wind farm management systems have state-of-the-art automatically controlled wind turbines, but at the electric grid-intertie, the substation is very often managed manually. It is true that some substations may have remote control capabilities, but they are still completely manually controlled, and require operator intervention for restoration. The real irony is that the cost of implementing a full auto-restoration scheme at a modern substation, with intelligent electronic protection devices, is likely to be only the lost revenue of one extended substation outage – truly ‘penny-wise and pound-foolish’ if not implemented.
By Larry D. Elliott PE, and Lawrence C. Gross, Jr PE, Relay Application Innovation Inc., USA .
- Category: Articles
Characterising Wind Speed and Directional Shear with sodar Data
Remote sensing technology, such as Sonic Detection and Ranging (sodar), has made it practical to obtain accurate measurements of wind speed and direction at several heights across the swept area of a typical wind turbine rotor. However, obtaining a large number of values for wind speed and directional shear over an entire measurement campaign can result in an unwieldy amount of data and make it difficult to draw conclusions. This article describes a simple technique for plotting the frequency of shear occurrence in order to highlight site-to-site differences that would affect wind turbine performance and reliability.
By Niels LaWhite, Chief Scientist, Elizabeth Walls, Research Scientist and Kenneth Cohn, Founding Partner, Second Wind Inc., USA .
Remote sensing technology, such as Sonic Detection and Ranging (sodar), has made it practical to obtain accurate measurements of wind speed and direction at several heights across the swept area of a typical wind turbine rotor. However, obtaining a large number of values for wind speed and directional shear over an entire measurement campaign can result in an unwieldy amount of data and make it difficult to draw conclusions. This article describes a simple technique for plotting the frequency of shear occurrence in order to highlight site-to-site differences that would affect wind turbine performance and reliability.By Niels LaWhite, Chief Scientist, Elizabeth Walls, Research Scientist and Kenneth Cohn, Founding Partner, Second Wind Inc., USA .
- Category: Articles
Six Sigma Quality Methodology Utilised
Clipper Windpower installed its first production ‘Liberty’ turbines in mid-2007 and since that time hundreds of turbines have been assembled at project sites around the USA. However, a couple of ‘teething troubles’ cropped up with the blades, which are manufactured at Clipper’s Brazilian supplier. In 2007 Clipper identified a blade spar deficiency that required dozens of field reinforcements to assure a 20-year blade life. After small cracks appeared in the surface skin of several blades in 2008 the company engaged upon a scientific process to identify the root cause and fix hundreds of blades in the field. The procedure included an intricate curing process necessary to enable the fixes to take place in temperatures well below zero.
By Drew Robb, Robb Editorial, USA .
Clipper Windpower installed its first production ‘Liberty’ turbines in mid-2007 and since that time hundreds of turbines have been assembled at project sites around the USA. However, a couple of ‘teething troubles’ cropped up with the blades, which are manufactured at Clipper’s Brazilian supplier. In 2007 Clipper identified a blade spar deficiency that required dozens of field reinforcements to assure a 20-year blade life. After small cracks appeared in the surface skin of several blades in 2008 the company engaged upon a scientific process to identify the root cause and fix hundreds of blades in the field. The procedure included an intricate curing process necessary to enable the fixes to take place in temperatures well below zero.By Drew Robb, Robb Editorial, USA .
- Category: Articles
Foundation Work on the next Danish Offshore Wind Farm
In April 2009, offshore work started on the Rødsand 2 wind farm, in the south of Denmark. A concrete gravity-based foundation is to be used, giving a 30% price reduction when compared to current offshore monopile foundation systems used in the UK. This article describes the project and the current stage of the construction works.
By Jens H.M. Larsen, Grontmij | Carl Bro A/S, Denmark .
In April 2009, offshore work started on the Rødsand 2 wind farm, in the south of Denmark. A concrete gravity-based foundation is to be used, giving a 30% price reduction when compared to current offshore monopile foundation systems used in the UK. This article describes the project and the current stage of the construction works.By Jens H.M. Larsen, Grontmij | Carl Bro A/S, Denmark .
- Category: Articles
Modelling of the Utsira Wind/Hydrogen Demonstration System in Norway
A wind / hydrogen demonstration project located at the island of Utsira, about 20km off the west coast of Haugesund in Norway, was officially launched by StatoilHydro and Enercon in July 2004. The main objective of this study, part of a joint venture between SgurrEnergy, the University of Strathclyde and the Institute for Energy Technology in Norway, was to evaluate the technical concept being demonstrated, both with respect to system design and operation. The method chosen was to use actual operational data to validate a set of wind/hydrogen-energy system modelling tools using HYDROGEMS and TRNSYS. This article describes how calibrated system models were used in system simulations to identify improved system designs and control regimes. The article also presents the results of the simulations performed to optimise the design of the plant in order to guarantee a 100% stand-alone operation.
By Arnaud Eté, SgurrEnergy, UK .
A wind / hydrogen demonstration project located at the island of Utsira, about 20km off the west coast of Haugesund in Norway, was officially launched by StatoilHydro and Enercon in July 2004. The main objective of this study, part of a joint venture between SgurrEnergy, the University of Strathclyde and the Institute for Energy Technology in Norway, was to evaluate the technical concept being demonstrated, both with respect to system design and operation. The method chosen was to use actual operational data to validate a set of wind/hydrogen-energy system modelling tools using HYDROGEMS and TRNSYS. This article describes how calibrated system models were used in system simulations to identify improved system designs and control regimes. The article also presents the results of the simulations performed to optimise the design of the plant in order to guarantee a 100% stand-alone operation.
By Arnaud Eté, SgurrEnergy, UK .
- Category: Articles
Texas Company Introduces ISO-e Technology
ISO-e refers to a new design and manufacturing process that is currently being developed at Greenward Technologies, Inc. It was originally conceived as part of an effort to drive down the steel content of the tower and array frame for the company's Wind Turbine Quad Array concept. It has the potential to reduce the steel content of a conventional tower with a specific rating while greatly increasing the tower's survivability in very high winds, and to uprate existing tower designs to a higher power rating. It does this by combining a relatively thin inner steel shell with a much thicker outer jacket of a proprietary concrete–polymer composite. Residual strain energy is shared equally and oppositely between the inner shell and the outer jacket, and the name ‘ISO-e’ refers to this optimal distribution of strain energy.
By Ed Salter, CTO, Chairman, and Co-founder, Greenward Technologies, USA .
ISO-e refers to a new design and manufacturing process that is currently being developed at Greenward Technologies, Inc. It was originally conceived as part of an effort to drive down the steel content of the tower and array frame for the company's Wind Turbine Quad Array concept. It has the potential to reduce the steel content of a conventional tower with a specific rating while greatly increasing the tower's survivability in very high winds, and to uprate existing tower designs to a higher power rating. It does this by combining a relatively thin inner steel shell with a much thicker outer jacket of a proprietary concrete–polymer composite. Residual strain energy is shared equally and oppositely between the inner shell and the outer jacket, and the name ‘ISO-e’ refers to this optimal distribution of strain energy.By Ed Salter, CTO, Chairman, and Co-founder, Greenward Technologies, USA .
- Category: Articles
An Open-Source Approach to Wind Farm Design and Optimisation
The wind farm design software market stabilised in the late 1990s with a handful of commercial software applications. While each of these applications has its strengths and weaknesses, innovation has failed to keep pace with developments in wind resource assessment. The lack of transparency, coupled with the inability to customise proprietary software offerings, represents a barrier to progress and innovation within the industry.
By Nick Robinson, Director of openWind, AWS Truewind, USA .
The wind farm design software market stabilised in the late 1990s with a handful of commercial software applications. While each of these applications has its strengths and weaknesses, innovation has failed to keep pace with developments in wind resource assessment. The lack of transparency, coupled with the inability to customise proprietary software offerings, represents a barrier to progress and innovation within the industry.By Nick Robinson, Director of openWind, AWS Truewind, USA .
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