- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Eaton’s TWF Twinfil filter systems are especially designed for gear lubrication systems in wind turbines Eaton fig 1](/images/stories/Features/2022Features/JanFeb2022Images/Eaton-fig-1.jpg)
As one of the fastest-growing renewable energy resources globally, wind energy is free, sustainable and inexhaustible. At the same time, manufacturers strive to build bigger, safer, more efficient, and powerful turbines to provide the world with more affordable electricity. However, due to their continuous energy production and often remote locations, both onshore and offshore, gear-driven wind turbines are a very demanding application that requires extreme reliability and durability. For optimal reliability, uptime and service life, the health of the gear oil is critical. Oil contamination can cause gear failure and lead to breakdowns, potentially resulting in high repair costs, lost energy production or even damage to the wind turbine’s structure. Therefore, the continuous monitoring and filtration of gear oil is essential to maximise uptime. This article focuses on the wind turbine’s gearbox and lubrication system and the key aspects to consider when selecting the filtration system.
By Eric Rud, Global Hydraulic Filtration Product Manager, Eaton, USA
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Ground-based, skid ADLS unit DeTect figure 1](/images/stories/Features/2021Features/NovDec2021Images/DeTect-figure-1.jpg)
Aircraft Detection Lighting Systems provide reliable, continuous 360-degree radar surveillance of the airspace around wind farms, both onshore and offshore, communications towers, power lines and installations that require aircraft obstruction lighting, automatically issuing signals to activate obstruction lighting when aircraft are detected at a defined outer perimeter.
By Gary Andrews, President & CEO, DeTect, USA and Edward Zakrajsek, Executive Vice President, DeTect Global, UK
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. The WindSight high-resolution land cover product is automated to ensure consistent, reliable and timely global delivery DHI figure 1](/images/stories/Features/2021Features/NovDec2021Images/DHI-figure-1.jpg)
Frictional forces due to land properties (such as terrain height and the physical structure of vegetation (height, density, etc.)) influence the strength and direction of the wind at the surface. Therefore, reliable and timely data and information on such properties is critical to accurately assess the availability of wind resources. However, assessment of wind energy resources is a highly complex and time-consuming process, ultimately relying on consistent, accurate and timely models and input data. Yet, in many cases, especially in forested sites, surface data on roughness and forest height is inaccessible or simply not available, and this may impact the ability of wind modellers to accurately assess wind resources.
By Torsten Bondo, Business Development Manager, DHI, Denmark
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Illustration of different types of floating wind foundations (courtesy Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult) Houlder figure 1](/images/stories/Features/2021Features/NovDec2021Images/Houlder-figure-1.jpg)
The offshore wind market is accelerating rapidly as global political pressure mounts to transition to clean energy sources. New sites are being selected, many of which are in deep-water locations. This is possible as several floating foundations are now proven in full-scale offshore trials, so building on a commercial scale is theoretically achievable. It is clear that floating offshore wind represents the next frontier, but which floating structure will deliver the best levelised cost of energy? It is as much about the local port infrastructure as it is the floating foundation. With multiple solution providers developing various models across four main structure types, this article outlines some of the factors for consideration and explains how independent naval architecture consultancy can support informed decision-making.
Mark Goalen, Director of Offshore Engineering, Houlder, UK
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Overview of the work plan structure and the five work packages Figure 1 Task 46](/images/stories/Features/2021Features/NovDec2021Images/Figure-1-Task-46.jpg)
Leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades has been identified as the main factor substantially reducing both blade lifetimes and energy output over time. Field repairs are costly due to lost availability and challenging access, work and weather conditions [1]. During the wind farm planning stage, the lack of validated methods to estimate the overall cost of erosion causes uncertainty in the investment decisions, again raising the levelised cost of energy.
By Raul Prieto, Charlotte Hasager, Sara C. Pryor, Marijn Veraart, David C. Maniaci, Jakob I. Bech, Maral Rahimi, Fernando Sánchez López, Bodil Holst and Sandro di Noi
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Representative lightning strike near a wind turbine in an onshore wind farm (source Shutterstock) Arctura fig 1](/images/stories/Features/2021Features/SeptOct2021Images/Arctura-fig-1.jpg)
Lightning damage stubbornly remains a major O&M expense for owner-operators in cost and frequency. Damage such as blade skin punctures, shell delamination, split trailing edges, and (less frequently) catastrophic damage to wind turbine blades is costly to repair and causes undesirable downtime. Even with the current mitigation systems in place, it is estimated that lightning damage costs the wind industry more than $ 100 million each year. Strikes are inevitable, and their frequency will only grow as turbines get taller, more onshore and offshore wind farms are developed, and our climate continues to change.
By Neal E. Fine, John A. Cooney and Christopher S. Szlatenyi, Arctura, Inc., USA
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1a. Tehachapi Pass wind farm aerial photograph: the two horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) simulated are circled in red. The HAWT specifications are taken from the NREL database Vorcat Fig1a](/images/stories/Features/2021Features/SeptOct2021Images/Vorcat-Fig1a.jpg)
Wind turbine (WT) designers and wind farm developers are seeking improved tools for maximising power generation while minimising the life-cycle cost of their onshore and offshore projects. The industry recognises that key decisions required to achieve the lowest levelised cost of energy include wind farm: 1) site and WT model selection, 2) spacing or WT density, and 3) active control of each turbine’s operation considering blockage generated by interference of multiple turbulent wakes with the surroundings. Although the current consensus calls for spacing WTs at least seven rotor diameters apart, each WT design can have a different network effect that varies between sites having unique topography, wind patterns and other atmospheric conditions. As a consequence, designers with multiple site, hardware and network configuration options cannot rely on empirical rules of thumb to achieve optimal wind farms. Instead, design decisions should be guided by innovative computational fluid dynamics tools.
By Jacob Krispin and Joel Balbien, Vorcat, USA
Use of cookies
Windtech International wants to make your visit to our website as pleasant as possible. That is why we place cookies on your computer that remember your preferences. With anonymous information about your site use you also help us to improve the website. Of course we will ask for your permission first. Click Accept to use all functions of the Windtech International website.