Windtech International has conducted a survey of SCADA systems and the results are shown in the accompanying tables. The survey was designed to allow potential customers to identify the features and capabilities of interest. The results show that SCADA vendors servicing the wind industry have strong capabilities with significant flexibility and that the capabilities continue to grow to satisfy the needs of the industry. In fact, some features are now widely available that the editors at Windtech International were not aware of prior to the survey.
By Jerry McNerney, Hawtpower, USA
Some interesting trends:
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The oldest system in the survey is Second Wind’s ADMS, which has benefited from continuing upgrades since its introduction in 1995.
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Most systems have significant analysis tools available and some sort of Relational Database capabilities.
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Most systems offer multiple data formats and communication protocols, and the formats and protocols can be selected to meet the requirements of the wind turbines being monitored. It was not determined if any of the SCADA systems could handle multiple formats and protocols simultaneously to meet the requirements of wind turbine from different manufacturers that might be monitored under the same Operation Center.
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All the respondent systems operate on PCs.
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Most systems can monitor virtually unlimited numbers of wind turbines.
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Most systems allow the wind farm to be displayed on the screen that includes topographical features and relative placements of wind turbines.
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Most systems offer the capability to upload software and control parameters to turbines from the Operations Center.
The results of this survey indicate that SCADA systems are evolving and will continue to offer manufacturers a wide range of capabilities to meet the needs of this dynamic and burgeoning industry.
