- Category: Articles

Wind farms are equipped with a SCADA system to monitor and collect data from the wind turbines. It is industry practice to collect data in 10-minute intervals and convert this data into specific statistics – the average, and in some cases, the maximum/minimum and standard deviation. Due to the dynamics of wind turbines, many underlying issues cannot be detected by an analysis of these statistics. This article discusses how the frequency of the dynamics of wind turbines is much higher than 10 minutes, and hence damaging behaviour and abnormalities cannot be identified with traditional SCADA data. The article also explores some examples of what could be achieved if data with a higher sampling rate is available.
By Carlos Gonzalez, Technical Director, Renewable Dynamics, Scotland
- Category: Articles
New Poul la Cour Tunnel at DTU Risø

By Nicholas Gaudern, Chief Technical Officer, Power Curve, Denmark
- Category: Articles
Optimising Wind Turbine Performance and Availability with Augmented Intelligence
Recently the term ‘predictive maintenance’ has received much attention across many industries. Perhaps this is due in part to the synergies with other rapidly developing areas of technology such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the internet of things, and big data analytics.
It is certainly not all hype; in mostareas of industry where operational costs represent a significant proportion of the overall life-cycle cost of a product, a strong business case can be made for the introduction of predictive maintenance. Wind energy can certainly benefit from such innovations, and perhaps the potential reduction in the overall cost of energy would be the final push that is needed to bring the industry through grid parity and beyond. Although the use of condition monitoring in wind turbines is nothing new, recent technical innovations provide the framework that is needed for a more complete implementation of predictive maintenance.

By Christopher Gray, CEO, i4SEE TECH, Austria
- Category: Articles

In this article, Sulzer & Schmid Laboratories, a Swiss company developing technology solutions for the inspection of wind turbine rotor blades, explains how drone-based technology platforms suitable for large-scale, multi-gigawatt blade inspection campaigns require a specific set of characteristics that will provide the level of scalability and deployability needed to succeed.
By Tom Sulzer, CEO and Co-Founder, Sulzer & Schmid, Switzerland
- Category: Articles
Maximising Blade Performance Through Aerodynamic Optimisation

By Nicholas Gaudern, Chief Technical Officer, Power Curve, Denmark
- Category: Articles

The wind industry is primed for precast tower foundations. The economics point to significant returns to wind farm contractors and owners as the focus changes to longevity and expanding the construction and OEM delivery season.
By David McFeeters-Krone and Chris Fernandes, RUTE Foundation Systems, USA
- Category: Articles

New industrial connectors enable the rear mounting of interfaces for switch cabinets. Using this option, all relevant connection steps can be carried out from the inside of a cabinet. Moreover, many installation processes can be shifted to the pre-assembly stage, thus helping to save expensive technician hours in the field. The termination technique can also accelerate processing. For example, the radial cage clamp used by Han ES Press enables a tool-free connection, in addition to offering options for bridging contacts directly on the insert.
By Carsten Edler, Industry Segment Manager Wind Energy, Harting Electric, Germany