- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Hybrid towers are able to reach hub heights of up to 190 metres Max Bogl fig 1](/images/stories/Features/2018Features/NovDec18Images/Max-Bogl-fig-1.jpg)
Wind turbine performance is constantly improving. With this trend comes ever higher hub heights – a development that will also continue in the coming years. As turbine performance increases, political and economic demands regarding the profitability of wind turbines are likewise increasing. Turbines with capacities above 4MW will become the norm even for onshore sites. To effectively meet these challenges, innovative solutions from manufacturers are needed. Tower concepts such as the hybrid tower, which combines precast concrete parts and steel elements, are opening up new technical possibilities.
By Jürgen Joos, Chief Financial Officer, Max Bögl Wind, Germany
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Differing types of water trees within cable insulation layers ORE fig 1 new](/images/stories/Features/2018Features/NovDec18Images/ORE-fig-1-new.jpg)
Floating platform wind turbines will require cables to run through the water column from their platform base at the water surface to the touchdown point on the seabed. This trajectory exposes the cable to dynamic environmental forces, such as waves and currents. The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE Catapult) and the Industrial Doctoral Centre for Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE) have been investigating the impact of this dynamic marine environment on a dynamic cable’s fatigue life, with the aim of reducing uncertainty and improving the reliability of dynamic cables. The aim of this project is to allow more effective planned maintenance offshore through the prediction of a failure of a dynamic cable.
By David Young, IDCORE and ORE Catapult, and Lars Johanning, University of Exeter, UK
- Category: Articles
Variability Analyses and Considerations About Uncertainty for Long-Term Prediction
![Figure 1. Regional areas where consistent wind trends could be established from ground observations for at least 30 years Eoltech Image1](/images/stories/Features/2018Features/NovDec18Images/Eoltech-Image1.jpg)
By Marion Jude, Eoltech, France
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Ingeteam’s medium voltage wind converters up to 15MW Ingeteam new optimal power conversion achitecture offshore](/images/stories/Features/2018Features/NovDec18Images/Ingeteam-new-optimal-power-conversion-achitecture-offshore.jpg)
Zero-subsidy offshore wind projects awarded in Germany and the Netherlands in 2018 have raised expectations worldwide. However, although these are significant competitiveness milestones, they are still bound to the particular market characteristics that made them possible.
Javier San Miguel Armendariz, Global Sales Director Wind Energy, Ingeteam, Spain
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Number of wind turbines reaching the end of the funding period of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act by the end of 2025 Hannover figure 1](/images/stories/Features/2018Features/October18Images/Hannover-figure-1.jpg)
More and more players in the German wind energy sector are concerned with the question of how to deal with the ageing German wind fleet, as around 5,200 turbines will simultaneously reach the end of the feed-in-tariff funding period of the Renewable Energy Sources Act for the first time at the end of 2020. Around 8,000 wind turbines will follow by the end of 2025, as shown in Figure 1. Operators of affected wind turbines will then have the choice between (I) continuing to operate the old turbine within the framework of direct marketing on the European Power Exchange, (II) repowering the old turbine by a new and more efficient wind turbine at plant-specific feed-in premium levels tendered in the German renewable energy auctions or (III) decommissioning the respective plant.
By Jan-Hendrik Piel and Martin Westbomke, Germany
- Category: Articles
![Figure 1. Monitoring and optimisation in real time in BayWa r.e.’s control room (courtesy BayWa r.e.) Baywa fig 1](/images/stories/Features/2018Features/October18Images/Baywa-fig-1.jpg)
A number of high-profile hacking cases have hit the headlines in recent years, highlighting the increasing rise in cybercrime and the devastating effects it can have on the targeted organisations. Mohamed Harrou, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) engineer at BayWa r.e., talks to Windtech International about the susceptibility of wind farms to cybercrime and why the time to act is now.
By Mohamed Harrou, SCADA Engineer, BayWa r.e., Germany
- Category: Articles
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After remotely monitoring several thousand wind turbines over the past 10 years, most of the wind turbine faults detected and diagnosed by the Brüel & Kjær Vibro Surveillance Centres have been related to the drive train. In this article, two case studies are given where the faults were detected and diagnosed in an entirely different but important component – the yaw bearing system. It is this system that bears the enormous static and dynamic loads of the nacelle and blades, and allows the nacelle to align itself into the wind.
By Mike Hastings, Senior Application Engineer, Brüel & Kjær Vibro, Denmark
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