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- Category: Articles
Wind turbine blade icing impacts approximately 65% of wind farms globally, leading to reduced power output, safety risks for workers and the public, and increased wear on turbine components. FabricAir has developed the BorealisWind Ice Protection System (BIPS), an innovative aftermarket solution designed to remove and prevent ice build-up on turbine blades and recover up to 75% of power losses caused by icing. The BIPS is part of FabricAir’s System as a Service model (see Figure 1), which emphasises a cyclical life-cycle approach to optimise performance while reducing the customer’s capex and minimising the product’s environmental impact. This article will use an anonymised case study to step through the life cycle of the BIPS, primarily focusing on the design tools and procedures used during inception.
By Dylan Baxter, PEng, Director of Technology for BorealisWind, FabricAir, Canada
- Category: Articles
How Weather Intelligence Is the Key to the Energy Transition
Globally, countries are in an energy transition, working to replace energy sources that produce carbon dioxide emissions with renewable sources like wind power to reduce emissions by 70% and set the world on the path to meeting climate goals.
By Chris Hyde, Meteorologist, Meteomatics, USA
- Category: Articles
Where There’s Wind, There’s Often a Surplus of Transmission Capacity
In 2023, Minnesota-based power collective Great River Energy completed a two-year study designed to identify the sources of congestion with the highest financial impact on its operations. It not only wanted to decrease costs, it wanted to figure out how to unlock untapped capacity on the congested lines.
By Jørgen Festervoll, CEO, Heimdall Power, Norway
- Category: Articles
Maximising Energy Production and Reducing Fatigue
Proper blade alignment in wind turbines is crucial for maximising energy production and reducing fatigue. This article explores a system that addresses pitch misalignment, enhancing turbine efficiency and longevity by ensuring each blade is pitched at the same angle. Pitch misalignment in wind turbines can significantly impact performance. When the blades are not uniformly pitched, it results in decreased aerodynamic efficiency and increased mechanical stress. Various factors can cause blade pitch to become misaligned, such as wear and tear on mechanical components, temperature variations, and human error during maintenance.
By Matthew Stead, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder, eologix-ping, Australia
- Category: Articles
Climate Change Impact on Yield-Relevant Parameters and Annual Energy Production
The question of how climate change will affect the energy yield of wind farms during their operating period has been increasingly raised at conferences and industry meetings. However, when determining wind potential, wind data from the past is generally used to determine the average wind and energy yield conditions to be expected during the future operating period of the planned wind farm. This is done under the assumption that the wind conditions of the past will also exist in the future. To consider climate change, GEO-NET studies its impact on the yield-relevant quantities and thus estimates the future yield of wind farms using various climate scenarios. The estimation is based on the coupling of an ensemble of regional climate projections from the CORDEX initiative for various representative concentration pathway scenarios with the computational fluid dynamics model FITNAH-3D. Exemplary results of the applied method are given, and their significance is discussed.
By Simone Pfau, GEO-NET Umweltconsulting, Germany
- Category: Articles
High-Altitude Modular Post-Tensioned Concrete Wind Towers
In the race for efficiency and innovation, the wind energy sector is rethinking the very shape and logistics that define its towering giants. The industry has focused on the circular shape for towers because of its low aerodynamic drag coefficient. What if, thinking outside the box, this shape were dropped from the overall design and a new approach similar to buildings was accessed? Imagine wind towers that rival the height of city landmarks, harnessing greater wind capacities while revolutionising transportation logistics. Could these giants be modular, swiftly transported like ubiquitous shipping containers, seamlessly moving across road, rail, oceans and even the skies? The challenge extends beyond mere height – it is about speed and scalability. Can wind towers be prefabricated in factories and assembled with automotive efficiency? These questions push boundaries, urging us to shatter conventional paradigms while leveraging the very strengths of standardised container logistics.
By Andrés de Antonio, Aeventor, USA
- Category: Articles
What Is the Industry Willing to Accept to Confront It?
Floating lidar systems have revolutionised the offshore wind industry by enabling the bankability of projects at a fraction of the original cost – successful wind resource assessment campaigns are essential for the economic viability of the wind farm development process. However, one parameter measured in such campaigns – turbulence intensity – is at the centre of debate. Its accuracy, with respect to the traditional definition, is known for not reaching industry standard levels, representing a serious problem because of the lack of consensus within the industry on how to address and solve this matter. The complexity of this phenomenon means that there is no optimal solution. Several suboptimal alternatives are currently under development, but there is not yet a clear picture of which is the right option. However, this might be about to change.
By Adrià Miquel and Giacomo Rapisardi, Eolos Floating Lidar Solutions, Spain
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| #18 Nordex wind turbines installed at the Petkus wind farm in Germany (courtesy Tomasz Mokosinski) |
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