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- Category: Windtech Future
In ten years the wind energy industry could see an upper limit to onshore turbine technology development reached. Offshore turbines of 12–15MW nameplate rating should be fairly common by then, but can we really expect onshore turbines to approach 10MW? As we continue to push the boundaries of product and technology development, we are likely to find that physical size limits, as well as the limits of the ‘square-cube’ law, put large onshore turbines at a commercially competitive disadvantage.
By Philip Totaro, Founder & CEO, IntelStor, LLC
- Category: Windtech Future
A wind turbine nacelle made from structural fabric? A tower made from composites? Blades with metal mesh inserts for structural rigidity? They might not be that far away. The greatest challenge for wind turbine blade structural and manufacturing engineers is to implement the idealised performance and noise-mitigated designs of aerodynamics engineers. Limitations of previous generations of manufacturing technology and the reliance on lower-cost materials have limited the type of spar/shear web structures which could be used.
By Philip Totaro, Founder & CEO, IntelStor, LLC
- Category: Windtech Future
The implementation of wireless technology using the 802.11s standard and mesh network technology will revolutionise wind turbine and wind park control systems. The increased signal fidelity and packet routing central to this technology will allow more WiFi-enabled sensor networks to be implemented on wind turbine blades. Previous attempts at fully instrumented blade monitoring using optical fibre sensors were expensive and limited in fidelity due to reliability issues. While the subject of WiFi use in pitch control, SCADA and content management systems (CMS), and other communication uses in wind turbines has been discussed for many years, some of the same constraints related to bandwidth and system reliability in the face of lightning strikes and 20-year design life have thus far precluded commercial use.
By Philip Totaro, Founder & CEO, IntelStor, LLC
- Category: Windtech Future
As of the end of June 2017, digital services in wind energy had seen deployment to over 55GW of assets, but to less than 1GW of offshore wind. The majority of the features and capabilities which can be delivered via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, or otherwise leverage data analytics and internet of things (IoT) systems, are likely to be agnostic to both onshore and offshore wind. Nevertheless, the potential impact on O&M cost as well as energy output optimisation will have specific implications in an offshore wind market segment.
By Philip Totaro, CEO, IntelStor, LLC
- Category: Windtech Future
Looking at the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) equation, the offshore wind industry has a unique and timely opportunity to achieve maximum impact by driving innovation and technology development towards lower CapEx and OpEx costs, and increased annual energy production (AEP).
By Philip Totaro, Founder & CEO IntelStor, LLC
- Category: Windtech Future
Digitalisation and Internet of Things (IoT) technology adoption in the renewable energy (RE) sector is still in its infancy. This immaturity of digital services platforms in RE leaves a major opportunity for revenue growth. The emergence of the RE digital services ecosystem creates a definitive need and opportunity for data-as-a-service (DaaS) and analytics-as-a-service (AaaS), both of which are likely to be a significant revenue driver as part of the overall RE digital services sector. The market for digital services in RE is likely to grow to US$ 89.4 billion by 2030 with annual revenue of US$ 5,3 billion in that time-frame.
By Philip Totaro, Founder & CEO, IntelStor
- Onerous Mandates on Performance Impact or Reliability are Stifling RE Innovation
- Emergence of Digital Services Highlights Need for Content Licensing Business Model
- Digitalisation Necessitates New Thinking and New Business Models
- How Common Platform Wind Turbine Architecture Unlocks Export Markets
- Closing the Product Competitiveness Gap
- Offshore Innovation Seeing Lift-off
- Consolidation Spurs Wind Innovation Revival
- The future of technology – Services
- Power plant control
- The Rise of Asian Innovation
- The future of technology – Manufacturing
- The future of technology – Materials
