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Lubricant and Debris Analysis for Wind Turbines |
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Wednesday, 09 March 2005 |
Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance
 The rapidly growing number of wind turbines, providing an increasingly credible alternative to the use of polluting fossil fuels, brings with it a rising need for quality maintenance programmes if production targets are to be met and reliability standards raised. Manufacturers and operators alike face not only the obvious issues associated with the amortisation of initial capital costs but also the need to maintain levels of production above the ‘penalty zone’. Simple business economics prescribe that minimising downtime optimises availability and maximises profitability. By Don Wootton and Chris Morton, Spectro Oil Analysis, UK |
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Sensors for Today’s Turbines |
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Wednesday, 09 March 2005 |
Harsher Conditions and Larger Turbines Require Enhanced Validation,
Monitoring and Control
 Every day wind energy is being pushed to new limits, both in terms of operating conditions and in terms of size. To meet these challenges turbine designers and wind park developers need new tools to ensure their products will meet goals of operating cost and availability. Recent innovations in fibre-optic load sensing have created such a tool; it will expand the options for advanced monitoring and control of turbines that are pushing the envelope, and will open up possibilities for huge gains in availability and operating cost. By Rain Byars and Jens-Thomas Wernicke, WindForce GmbH, Germany |
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Comparing Models for Energy Output Estimation |
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Wednesday, 09 March 2005 |
Can SiteWind lower uncertainty and costs?
 Conventional micrositing models such as WAsP (Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program) are equilibrium models that create a wind map and climatology of a region using data from a single reference mast. The models typically assume a constant, homogeneous, neutrally stratified, externally determined wind flow; the terrain acts as a perturbation on this flow. In contrast, SiteWind, a new micrositing tool introduced by AWS Truewind, resolves the dynamic forces within the region affecting the flow caused by temperature gradients, non-neutral stability and other factors. In this article the authors present the results of case studies and discuss their implications for uncertainty analysis. They also show how the demonstrated accuracy improvements can translate into lower uncertainty of energy output estimates.
By Rebecca Reed, Michael Brower and Jason Kreiselman, AWS Truewind, USA
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Offshore Wind Farm Construction |
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Wednesday, 09 March 2005 |
A Clear Picture? In the early 1990s a number of test wind turbines were installed in Denmark and Sweden. The turbines were small compared to the current size and output of turbines, and the waters in which they were installed were relatively quiet. The installation could easily be managed using existing floating cranes and barges. Now that large-scale wind power plants are being installed offshore in more exposed areas such as the North and Irish Seas, more ‘rugged’ methods are needed in order to install large quantities of high megawatt turbines in a short season. In this article, Kurt Thomsen from A2SEA A/S gives his views on this matter. By Kurt Thomsen, Business Development Manager, A2SEA A/S, Denmark |
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New Zealand’s Winds Harnessed |
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Wednesday, 09 March 2005 |
Te Apiti Wind Farm Proves Wind Energy can be Mainstream Generation
 Using an abundant wind resource, New Zealand’s largest electricity generating company, Meridian Energy, has constructed its first wind farm in the North Island and plans to repeat the experience. The wind farm, at Te Apiti, is expected to be completed and fully commissioned by the end of 2004, demonstrating that the wind generation industry has begun to mature in New Zealand.
By Adam Muldoon, NZ Wind Development Manager, Meridian Energy, New Zealand |
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