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May 2017

Conversation with Jana Adams

Wind Systems staff
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Conversation with Jana Adams

What do you do with AWEA?

I’ve been with AWEA for a little over three years and was brought on to focus on the business operation side. I focus on membership recruitment and retention, developing strong member engagement programs. I focus on all our conferences and education programs as well as publications and webinars, and generally all the things we do for the industry in terms of education and content to encourage them to become members and continue to be members.

What goes into planning WINDPOWER? What challenges do you face?

One of the biggest challenges of a show like WINDPOWER is that it’s different every single year. It’s both its biggest advantage in terms of why people value it and kind of its biggest challenge in the planning of it.

It’s in a different city every year. The convention centers are completely configured differently. So we really have to start with a blank sheet of paper every year. And that’s something that we literally did at the 2016 show. We kind of blew up the model that we had been using for a number of years and implemented a very different type of experience for our attendees. Namely being, we got rid of the distinction between people coming to go to the educational sessions and the people just coming to go to the trade show. It’s now one registration, one access, one pass, and you get access to everything. And we found that was hugely well-received in 2016, so we are continuing and even building on that.

And in Anaheim, we are going to be delivering all the educational content right on the show floor, so that people can, within moments, go from meeting with their biggest customer to sitting in an audience listening to CEOs of some of the largest wind companies in the country, and making that a much more efficient experience for attendees and maximize their time there.

What should WINDPOWER guests expect?

We have a great program. We have three general sessions. We’ll be kicking off each morning with the show opening bright and early at 9 a.m. And that was something we did in response to requests from exhibitors and attendees who wanted access to the show floor as early as possible, so we were able to deliver on that as we brought the general sessions to show floor.

We will all gather in five different education stations across the exhibit hall and hear a great, live lineup of panelists who are on our website. And then in the four other education stations, we’ll have the content being simulcast. It’ll be a virtual experience, but we’ll be able to deliver the content to literally thousands of people throughout the show floor as well as online. Anyone can watch the general sessions online.

We put a lot of time and effort in not only the staff, but people who are participating in the general session. And there’s some great information in there. So we just made the strategic decision that we want as many people as possible to be able to take advantage of that content. Not only can everyone in the show hear it, but across the world, people can log in and get access to the general sessions.

How has WINDPOWER changed over the years?

It’s a decades-old show. And it started as a very small event in a ballroom-level basement of a very small hotel. And it’s grown from that very small gathering of a few hundred professionals in the industry similarly to the growth of the industry itself of being much more of a niche industry to being a huge multinational, billion-dollar industry.

We’re quite large. We’re in the top 70 largest trade shows in the world. It’s grown just as the industry has grown. Certainly the most dramatic changes have come in the last two years, but even my predecessors always looked to tweak things to continue to improve the value and the effectiveness of the event for the attendees.

The education program was sort of an add-on to the trade show piece over time and grew to become a substantial reason for people to come to the event. And then our changes last year of integrating those two pieces and making it hopefully much more valuable for everyone were also big changes.

Another thing that we’re doing differently that’s part of that continuing evolution of the event is almost every company that participates in the show conducts massive amounts of business development meetings while they’re there. The amount of contracts and great work that is done to grow the industry at WINDPOWER is huge. And we provide opportunities for people to do that. And we’re providing that like the other components right on the show floor. So you can have your booth or you can rent a private meeting space to conduct those more confidential meetings.

What’s unique about this year’s show?

We have a couple of things ranging from small silly fun stuff to things much more substantial. One thing we’re doing differently this year in this effort to make it fun and a different and a unique experience is to take advantage of the uniqueness of the city we’re in. And in Anaheim, we’re hosting our welcoming reception at Angel Stadium. We’ll bus out all our thousands and thousands of attendees over to Angel Stadium, and they’ll be able to tour the dugout and the locker room and have a great opening reception with food and beverage.

And if you are a member of our Wind PAC, which is our political action committee, there’s even an opportunity to go in the outfield and throw the ball and catch it and have a unique on-field experience at Angel Stadium.

We heard from our members last year that they want more opportunities to meet people they don’t already know. It’s easy if you’ve been in the industry a long time and you go and you know thousands of people who are at the show. But there’s a lot of new people, whether they’re new professionals or new companies that are getting involved in the industry, they don’t know anybody. And so we have what we’re calling meet-ups.

Every morning we have a way for people to sign up and go for runs, starting your day off with some exercise and hopefully meeting some people you don’t know. And we also have some informal meet-ups at different local cool places. There’s a packing district that’s a new and up-and-coming area in Anaheim.

So we’re having a meet-up there for anybody who’s registered, and then we’ll have AWEA staff members there sort of helping to organize it, but really it’s just an organic opportunity for people to get to know others.

And then, of course, you can’t be in Anaheim and not involve Disney a little bit. So we have an informal meet-up on Thursday afternoon after the show closes where folks can get together and go to Disneyland.

Once WINDPOWER 2017 is in the books, does AWEA do a post mortem? What’s involved with that?

That’s something we do after every event, regardless of the size. With WINDPOWER, it’s a little more formal just because of the size and the importance of the event. So we have the traditional attendee survey.

We solicit feedback directly from everyone who was there. But we also have a marketing taskforce of leaders in the industry, and we get together every summer after the show and just talk about it. Did it work for you? Were you able to accomplish your business objectives? And generally, the answers are yes, we do a good job. And then it pivots to what do we need to fix and what we can do better and continue to add value and improve the experience. All these different enhancements we come up with are derived from that process.

What are you personally looking forward to?

I am really excited about hosting the three general sessions on the show floor and simulcasting them. Anytime you’re involved in meeting planning and conference development, you get a lot of good ideas that people have done before. I’m sure somebody’s done (simulcasting) before, but this was a general idea we developed through talking.

So I’m really excited to see that in play and see how people are able to take advantage of the opportunity for all the many thousands to get the opportunity to get the benefits of the general sessions as opposed to just a couple of thousand who choose to go to the convention center and sit in a theater for a couple of hours. I’m really quite excited about that.

And definitely the live online streaming. That’s just such a great way to get our message out to people across the world.

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Leveraging Blade Management Software

Chris Shroyer
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Leveraging Blade Management Software

The days of mind-numbing hours reviewing hundreds, even thousands of wind-blade pictures to find the areas of damage, and classifying that damage, are soon to be going the way of corded telephones. Like that 20th-century relic, technological advancement has brought opportunities to create more efficient ways of conducting business. Advancement in robotics, image capture, data creation and management, and deep-learning artificial intelligence algorithms have created a new world of possibilities.

These technologies will be game changing in many industries, and wind energy is no exception. Images can be captured in multiple methods, but the real value is in leveraging the data produced in a way that efficiently solves business problems. Inspections by unmanned aerial systems (UAS, commonly called drones), robotic arms, or high-resolution spotting scopes are becoming more common every day — and they’re proving effective. The real answers, however, lie within the data. How to best compute that data and consume that data?

It’s been a productive year for the team at EdgeData. It entered the wind industry a rookie in 2016 with new ideas to improve wind-turbine inspections through deeper insight from raw data. After a year’s worth of experience under their belts, the software is getting smarter. EdgeData isn’t just a drone-flying company that captures images of critical utility infrastructure. During  aerial blade inspections, it delivers high-quality images and metadata with BladeEdgeSM, its patent-pending software solution.

Deep-learning technology recognizes and classifies damage, pinpointing the exact area needing attention at an entire blade and individual image level. Given time, the proprietary BladeEdge analytic software will track trends in wear and damage, and it can help operators determine proactive plans to develop budgets, maximize infrastructure lifecycles, minimize energy loss due to poor blade conditions, and proactively manage repairs to increase return on repair investments.

EdgeData operates under three process pillars: capture, compute, and consume. And it’s not doing it alone. It has cultivated partnerships with industry leading organizations training the next generation of wind-turbine technicians and inspectors to capture data “the BladeEdge way.” They’re changing the wind-inspection game — at a foundational level.

Wind-turbine inspections with UAS are still new, and EdgeData is working to define the standard for flight procedures. (Courtesy: EdgeData)

Capture

Wind-turbine inspections with UAS are still new, and EdgeData is working to define the standard for flight procedures. The work to capture the correct data, the correct way is the first step. Earlier this year, Oak Ridge National Laboratory enlisted EdgeData’s advice on flight operations procedures and processes for flying near wind infrastructure. As the largest U.S. Department of Energy science and energy laboratory in the United States, Oak Ridge National Laboratory delivers transformative solutions to the challenges facing the energy and related security industries.

“We were honored to contribute to Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s work,” said Josh Riedy, COO at EdgeData. “Together, we’re setting the standard for high-quality inspections across all industries, ensuring safety and productivity above all else.”

EdgeData’s UAS operator and team shared their flight operation procedures for wind infrastructure inspection via drone. An Early Survey of Best Practices for the Use of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems by the Electric Utility Industry was published in February, and it is regarded as a top resource for UAS specialization in the utility and energy industries.

Efficiency in the Field

The software is only effective when high-quality raw data is correctly captured. With the UAS industry being so young and having many variables in the field, developing a means of capturing accurate data was essential.

EdgeData’s BladeEdge Capture Assistance Tool (BECATSM) was designed specifically for use in the field and ensures every drone always captures quality imagery. After completing an inspection flight, pilots can verify the data on a laptop, double-checking to be sure no square inch is left uninspected. With BECAT, EdgeData has taken a large step toward automated flight assistance. Whatever the inspectors’ level of flying expertise, they’ll be able to leave the field with the data needed to provide a quality inspection.

The tool also packages the imagery and all necessary meta-data for processing by BladeEdge’s deep learning analysis algorithms. This saves time, and it can eliminate the possibility for human error. That means owners and operators have a complete, high-resolution close-up image of their infrastructure and do not need to spend hours reviewing each image. The anomalies have automatically been identified, located, and classified.

The BladeEdge software leverages deep learning technology to complete an automated assessment of the imagery captured in the field. Capturing overlap and pixel spacing in the field allows images to be stitched together into a single mosaic. This mosaic is color coordinated to highlight any damage or areas of concern. With each damaged area, the machine gets smarter and applies that knowledge to future inspections. This is the deep-learning layer of artificial intelligence.

Over time, owners and operators will be able to track wear patterns on blades and develop proactive maintenance plans to maximize the life of their infrastructure and increase annual energy production.

Each time data is collected, BladeEdge further trains the software to recognize damage and anomaly areas on future inspections. (Courtesy: EdgeData)

The Next Generation of Inspectors

EdgeData also is looking at the future of the wind turbine blade inspection industry. In partnership with North Dakota’s Lake Region State College (LRSC) in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, EdgeData is working to develop the next generation of wind-turbine inspectors.

LRSC’s Wind Energy Technician Program is an associate in applied science degree, the first of its kind. The inaugural class graduates in May as aerial inspection enabled wind techs. Students have been learning in a hands-on environment, gaining real-world maintenance and repair experience on actual wind turbines.

The program now includes UAS curriculum, thanks to EdgeData, and students are working toward remote pilot certification under FAA regulations Part 107. Part of their coursework will include training on both BECAT flight procedures and the BladeEdge software. Graduates will be primed for jobs as inspectors in the wind-energy field. To date, the program has seen nearly 100 percent job placement for graduates.

Compute: Maximizing Deep Learning

With the training of new wind technicians in the hands of LRSC and a network of partners and technology bringing flight-assist software, EdgeData can focus on software, big data, and deep learning technology that produce a top-quality inspection more easily and efficiently than ever before. Each time data is collected, it further trains the software to recognize damage and anomaly areas on future inspections.

Not all flying conditions are created equal. In a perfect world, UAS inspections would be conducted on bright, sunny days. But in reality, the weather doesn’t always cooperate. BladeEdge was developed with tolerance for hazy or gloomy days and is effective in capturing blades against a gray sky. Even in poor conditions, pilots can capture complete image sets, delivering the data operators need to maintain their infrastructure.

In a perfect world, UAS inspections would be conducted on bright, sunny days. But in reality, the weather doesn’t always cooperate. BladeEdge was developed with tolerance for hazy or gloomy days and is effective in capturing blades against a gray sky. (Courtesy: EdgeData)

UAS Specific Data Storage

As EdgeData continues to grow, so does its need for data storage. All the big data must be processed and stored somewhere. The preference is that this data be stored near the processing points to minimize the need for transport of massive data sets. EdgeData has ambitions to create an environment custom-designed for the image treatment and machine learning algorithms critical to EdgeData and others in the drone image capture business.

EdgeData recently announced its intent to establish a 16,000-square-foot data center facility at Grand Sky, a UAS Business and Aviation Park in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Grand Sky is a highly secure, UAS specific environment and is ideal for a data center. The new facility will allow EdgeData to host an optimized environment for operations.

Consume

What does this all mean for the wind industry? It means manufacturers, owners, operators, and third-party service providers will have access to better data. With better data and complete imaging of their wind-turbine blades, they can make educated decisions for proactive maintenance and repair of damage. They’ll maximize energy output while negating potential losses.

The entire methodology EdgeData has pioneered validates the importance of strong partner relationships that serve the industry as a whole. Capturing more data allows for longitudinal comparison of damages. Years of compiled data will show how wind-turbine blades degrade over time. It will track the impact of various climates on performance. The top causes of damage or wear will be identified. When raw data is turned into actionable intelligence, the value of this is only limited by our imaginations in how to apply what is learned.

Revolutionizing Deep Offshore Wind Turbines

Andy Filak
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A concrete replacement floating foundation developed for deep-water wind farms far off the coast could last up to 100 years. Designed for durability and scalability, it would be capable of supporting up to three consecutive generations of wind-turbine generators of 7 MW or higher.

The expansion of offshore wind-turbine power generation is inevitable and growing due to the ready supply of high quality wind energy, and the elimination of many of the restrictions of generation on land. To date, one of the major hurdles has been the development of reliable floating foundations with a long service life and that can be easily installed in deep water.

Current concrete technology is not robust enough for the long-term exposure experienced in an ocean wind farm, and steel technologies require complicated shoreside construction and at-sea installation procedures with multiple large crane barges. The Marine Advanced Composite Concrete (MACC™) material and newly developed assembly/erection ocean-going deck barge (OGDB) has solved both of these issues. The breakthroughs to achieve this are three-fold:

The first is changing the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) binder in the concrete. The second is replacing the coated steel rebar with a material that will achieve a non-metallic reinforcing structural frame. The third is forming, ballasting, and launching the foundation’s floating spar, and then installing the wind-turbine generator (WTG), in a completely novel way. The combination of these advances will increase the longevity of the system while simultaneously reducing construction, installation, and maintenance costs.

Deep Offshore Advantages

The beauty of deep offshore wind is that it does not consume real estate or block views while using a steadier and more predictable wind. This condition allows for the use of larger turbines. A new spar buoy foundation system with its new construction and deployment processes will enable erection for a fraction of the current foundation cost for deep-water wind farms. This concept will have a lower installation cost due to the way it is produced and deployed. The floating displacement substructure and WTG topside are constructed and assembled in parallel on an OGDB while tied to the quay, which is then released and towed to the wind farm for final assembly and deployment.

The Marine Advanced Composite Concrete (MACC) and cost opinion are based on a 100-unit floating offshore wind system (FOWS). Each FOWS unit will consist of a floating substructure (spar buoy) and a large offshore WTG. The units are stationed approximately 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) apart to minimize the wind-shadow effect. Each 6 MW WTG stands 656 feet above the mean sea level. The FOWS will maintain station-keeping via six synthetic ropes tethered to three anchors on the ocean floor.

Material Improvements

The revolution in materials is the basis of this new technology. In existing marine concrete structures, the greatest threat is water, either fresh or salt. Through time, water penetrates into concrete through unseen cracks and the natural porosity and rusts the rebar skeleton. Even protected rebar has coating failures and deterioration that eventually allows the steel failure.

Seawater also directly attacks the chemistry of OPC, causing rapid failure. What causes the OPC binder to fail at sea is the high percentage of calcium compounds (approximately 70 percent) that come under attack by the sulphur compounds in seawater. This rots the concrete. The binder, in a concrete mix design, can occupy up to 20 percent of the mass of the concrete. Replacing the OPC in the concrete mix design with a geopolymer binder will foil this degradation scenario by minimizing the calcium compounds in its chemical composition.

The geopolymer cement binder is made up of four inexpensive and widely available components: type-F fly ash, fresh water, waterglass (sodium-silicate), and lye (sodium hydroxide). With the type-F low calcium fly ash, the binder can have as little as 2 percent calcium, producing a saltwater-resistant material. Geopolymer cement binders are used commercially elsewhere in the world due to their superior performance to OPC binders. In general, these cements are stronger and both fireproof and waterproof. They bond well to most materials, have minimal expansion or contraction, are formable, and are resistant to salts, acids, and alkalis. The production process for geopolymers has an approximately 80 percent smaller carbon footprint than standard OPC.

To replace the steel rebar, a nonmetallic bar made from readily available basalt is used for reinforcement. Basalt stone is found all over the Earth and is a key component enabling the hundred-year durability of the substructure. The basalt stone, when heated to a temperature of 1,800 degrees, turns to a liquid that is run through a palladium die that produces soft flexible threads.

The threads are laid in parallel and locked together with an epoxy, producing basalt rebar: a water-proof, chemical-resistant, fireproof material with a tensile strength several times stronger than steel. The geopolymer binder in the concrete binds to the basalt rebar on a chemical level in addition to the mechanical bond. The basalt bar is extremely light and also fairly flexible, lending to easy placement in the structure. Cut basalt fiber additives, much like nylon fibers, also are used in the mix design for added strength. The substructure will have a minimum of a 100-year life due to the low porosity, high-strength, and heat-cured technology found in the geopolymer binder in the concrete mix design.

Forming the Foundation Substructure

The selection of the type of floating foundation substructure was based on a survey of wind-farm developers. Their choice, to meet the rigors of offshore deep-water wind-turbine operating requirements, is the spar buoy based on more than two years of full-scale testing. The current construction and deployment of a spar buoy (approximately 400 feet long) consists of a steel fabrication plant, horizontal move out, and horizontal launch into the harbor water, tow out to 100-meter water for rotation to vertical, tow out of the ballast placement barge for fixed ballast placement, mating of the substructure to the topside structure, and final tow out to the wind-farm site. All of these operations have long open-water residence time and are significantly affected by ambient sea states.

But there is an alternative to this construction and deployment that will substantially reduce “port-to-site” cost and time. To develop a new construction method of building a concrete spar buoy, a wide variety of formwork systems used around the world were studied, including pre-cast/post-tensioned incremented structures for their simplicity. All but one were dismissed as unable to improve overall port-to-site time and cost. The only method to show significant promise in reducing timelines and cost was slip forming.

The major problem encountered was forming a large round structure with internal struts tied to a second internal round, made particularly difficult with struts in a perpendicular mode for rebar and concrete placement. Additionally, placement of the final structure in the water horizontally calls for further structural requirements built in to the design. The best production time frame, of all the formwork systems, was 41 days. Slip forming produced the most cost effective solution with a heat-cured formwork that can achieve a 2-foot-an-hour slip to complete spar formation in only seven days, at a saving of 500 crew hours.

Slipping the spar uses all of the standard methodology except for the heated formwork and the tremie trunk placement of the geopolymer concrete. (The mix design cannot be pumped due to the friction heat generation.)

The spar buoy, slip formed as a seamless concrete displacement structure, will have its steel jack rods extracted at the end of the slip, producing a concrete structure with no steel in its make-up.

 

Ocean-Going Deck Barge

The cost to slip on land and achieve a lay down of the structure becomes uneconomical due to the weight of the spar and the cost of the ballast placement operation at sea. Therefore, the ocean-going deck barge (OGDB) concept was developed as a solution. To simplify the overall process, the OGDB serves as a construction platform, transportation, and erection platform, all in one. With the barge moored to the quay with ready access to materials and resources, the spar is slipformed at one end while simultaneously the WTG is assembled at the other.

When substructure construction and topside assembly are complete, the barge is towed out to the wind-farm site with both components onboard. At the site, the spar is deployed into the water, water-ballasted down, and moored into location with traditional mooring methods. The barge is rotated to position the WTG over the spar, which is then de-ballasted, joined, and mechanically locked to the WTG topside.

The barge overall dimensions are 440 feet long by 148 feet beam by 27 feet deep. This, less deck well cuts fore and aft, results in 60,120 square feet of deck area. The weight of the barge per square foot, including the extra hard point structural framing, ballast system pumps, and piping is estimated at 600 lbs/ft2, for a total of 18,036 short tons. With a foot of draft displacing 1,924 short tons, the unloaded barge will have a draft of 9.4 feet. The estimated deck load (with no spar or WTG loads) adds 3,700 short tons. Prior to the spar production and WTG assembly, the ballast tanks will be filled with 12,084 short tons of water at the quay, bringing the total to 17.6 feet of draft. The total weight before production at the quay is 33,800 short tons.

During the 12-day slip and WTG assembly, the ballast management system will pump out the 12,084 short tons of ballast to maintain a steady draft and level deck surface as construction and assembly materials are loaded and positioned on the barge. At tow-out, with the spar construction and the WTG assembly complete, the OGDB draft will remain 17.6 feet, with a tow-out freeboard of 9.4 feet.

There are two towers on the OGDB. The first is for the spar buoy. This multi-functional structural tower is made up of high-strength man lift mast sections. The port side, forward leg of this tower supports a rack-and-pinion man lift. All four legs of this tower support two lift-up gripper-retention systems. These gripper rings are raised up and engaged after the slip formwork stage has passed the half and three-quarter points on the finished spar buoy. Integral with the tower is a lowering and receiving structure (LRS). The LRS frame is designed to support the end bell (constructed ashore, and shown in graphic on page 47) for the spar buoy, its weight, the spar buoy’s weight, and the stone ballast. The LRS is held in the tower over the aft well of the OGDB by eight Dyneema tendons (designed for salt-water immersion). At the other end of the barge is the tower supporting the WTG as it is assembled.

On-Barge Construction

The construction is supported and executed on the OGDB at the quay. The first component (built on the land side) is the end-bell starter section. It is 40 feet in diameter by 30 feet high and is lifted down and set into the LRS well, with an indexing pin into the center of the bottom of the end bell. Fine sand is placed in order to stabilize the set between the concrete end bell and the galvanized steel LRS. The next operation is placing stone ballast in the first 20 feet for added stability.

Next, the slip formwork and formwork staging is placed in four pie-shaped quadrants onto the end-bell starter. The spar is slip-formed another 70 feet and then paused to place the remaining permanent ballast stone. The slip is then continued to the 330-feet level where the formwork is removed from the outer hull, allowing the stem framing to be released from the final stage for continued slipforming of the last 60 feet of the stem. Simultaneously with the spar slip-forming, the WTG is assembled at the other end of the barge. The WTG support structure, built around and cantilevered out over the bow well, is designed to support the transition component with its lock and release system for mating to the substructure. The WTG will be assembled atop this transition component, again with close attention to the water-ballast management.

Once the construction is completed on the barge, it is towed out of the harbor to the installation location. With the high windage of the spar buoy, WTG, and associated towers, weather will be watched carefully to ensure conditions are right for a safe transit.

Dynamic Positioning

Critical to a safe and efficient operation, the OGDB is equipped with eight thrusters controlled by a dynamic positioning system to quickly position and hold the OGDB as the components are deployed. The dynamic positioning will have active wind and current compensation, thruster selection and enabling, power management, automatic heading hold, and other pertinent sensors. All of the information sensors, data readout, video feeds, and manual and joystick controls for the entire OGDB will be housed and displayed on the control console in the third level of the superstructure.

Deploying the Spar Buoy

Upon arrival at the installation site, the spar buoy is deployed into the water. The total weight of the spar buoy, stone ballast, and LRS will require eight linear winches to lower it into the water. Each linear jack is rated at 1,405 short tons with a 2.5 minimum safety factor. All are operated simultaneously from a single computer platform.

All are attached to Dyneema tendons that have a proven long life in salt water; they in turn are attached to steel jacking strands that do not enter the water. There are 84 steel jacking strands in a bundle weighing in at 100 lbs/foot going through the jack. To keep the bundle tensioned, a synthetic rope is attached to a 25-ton counter weight and then to a lifting winch. During the spar buoy lowering operation, the water ballast management system again controls the deck leveling system, in direct reverse to the construction and assembly phase.

After a small lift to release the LRS’ hold and lock system, the Dyneema tendons lower the LRS, with the spar buoy, into the water. Upon reaching a free-floating condition, and then ballasting to a designated level, the station-keeping crew will tether it to the ocean bottom anchors.

WTG Placement and Support

The OGDB dynamic positioning system is then used to position the WTG topside over the substructure for an accurate lift-up and locking of the substructure into the WTG transition assembly. The bow well, under the top support structure, is designed to receive the outer hull of the spar buoy. The substructure is then slowly de-ballasted to lift it up and insert the stem on top of the spar into the transition section. This component is equipped with a lock-and-hold system for securing the substructure to the topside.

This assembly method eliminates the need for expensive heavy marine cranes, minimizes open water residence time, and provides a means of changing out the turbine at a later date or for returning the WTG to the quay for repairs. Turbine replacement is required every 25 to 30 years, according to the University of Maine. This reuse of the foundation, up to four times minimum, becomes extremely cost effective. The reinstallation of the turbine, by design, has been made completely reversible without affecting the station keeping of the spar buoy substructure.

Construction Cost Opinion

This opinion, with accurate input, identifies the unit cost at $6.9 million per turbine spar (excluding the cost of the WTG itself) for assembly and delivery to a station-keeping crew in the 100-unit FOWS. This installation cost is a fraction of the current floating foundation cost and includes the following: MACC construction, in-harbor construction and assembly without intermediate transfer to a barge, self-deployment, and WTG assembly.

Summation

The MACC spar buoy and associated ocean-going deck barge are revolutionary approaches to greatly reduce offshore WTG capital and O&M cost. From the new material selection, which enables novel fabrication techniques in the offshore industry, to the unique barge enabling simplified transportation and WTG deployment logistics, these advances challenge the status quo in offshore wind-farm development.

Additionally, the geopolymer concrete cement binder supports aggressive global carbon reduction goals by producing 80 percent less CO2 and in a much shorter fabrication process. It is stronger and has a longer service life in saltwater, which extends the life span and reduces overall costs. 

The Power of Data

Andrea Miller
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The Power of Data

The operations and maintenance of wind farms is experiencing a renaissance.

With the constant evolution of faster computers, instant data acquisition, high-speed processing, and advanced analytics, large amounts of data are available for real-time reliability diagnostics and prognostics and asset performance optimization.

Asset-related data now can be readily collected from various sources, such as the site SCADA systems, engineering reports, oil-analysis programs, vibration monitoring, and meteorological data, as well as maintenance-related data captured in a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

Apex Clean Energy, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, is going “all-in” on the power of data to fundamentally improve the performance, efficiency, parts life, and reliability of more than 1,700 MW of installed capacity for its asset management clients.

The process starts in a purpose-built, NERC-certified Remote Operations Control Center (ROCC), staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. A first-tier software and proprietary network topology allows the ROCC operators full visibility and detailed access to each wind and solar asset under management.

Each day, these systems perform more than 1.6 billion scans of more than 58,000 data points with an average data pull every three seconds. The internally-coded advanced compression algorithm makes a history of about 250 million data points per day of high-resolution data that fuels advanced performance analytics and predictive failure analysis.

In simpler terms, these data points are sorted, prioritized, and analyzed to allow for real-time adjustments to maximize generation and revenues and minimize turbine downtime.

It’s a glimpse of the future, in action today.

Apex Clean Energy’s NERC-certified Remote Operations Control Center (ROCC) is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. (Courtesy: Apex Clean Energy)

From Reactive to Proactive

Optimal performance and increased asset reliability and availability are two common goals among asset management teams across the wind industry. Unfortunately, many wind-farm operators are addressing these goals through a reactive strategy — that is, they are using only historical data to optimize assets for increased reliability.

This approach is typically used to address performance or reliability issues in response to asset failure or on prescribed calendar-based intervals and is not suitable for an entire class of assets given the particularities of the wind industry (i.e., varying environmental conditions from site to site, assets subject to different loads even at the same site, and so on).

Apex has implemented two platforms to address turbine and site

performance optimization and turbine life cycle reliability and availability. Both platforms were developed in accordance with the MIMOSA standards for operations and maintenance in manufacturing, fleet, and facility environments. There are six blocks of functionality in a condition-based monitoring system: data acquisition, data manipulation, state detection, diagnostics assessment, prognostics assessment, and advisory generation. Both of the Apex platforms address all six blocks of functionality.

Detecting Real-Time Deviations

The Apex turbine performance and site performance optimization calculation engine is able to detect, in real time, deviations from nominal performance curves as well as from site averages. In addition, a set of engineering-based “crisp” rules — used with data-driven techniques — is employed to identify the underlying cause of underperforming turbines. Once such a turbine or site is identified as underperforming, a work order is opened in the Apex CMMS to be addressed by plant operations and site maintenance teams. Data compiled during troubleshooting activities is collected into a knowledge database that helps with future recommendations.

Remaining Useful Life

The Apex turbine reliability and availability platform is focusing on optimizing each asset’s remaining useful life (RUL) based on historic, current, and future asset operations. Current RUL is based on historical operating conditions and can be estimated as total accumulated damage (fatigue and extreme events) to a turbine major component. Future reliability and availability is then improved based on smart anomaly detection and improved asset management processes.

It is important to note that although high asset reliability and availability can always be obtained at high capital-expense and

operating-expense costs, Apex’s platform balances all three to create an optimal operations and maintenance strategy.

Overall, wind energy asset management is about maximizing wind-power generation and profits over the long-term, and Apex is achieving significant results. It’s about more than revenue, though. It’s about keeping people safe, working with the local communities, and helping promote the power of clean, reliable wind energy.

Real-time data analytics can fundamentally improve the performance, efficiency, parts life, and reliability of wind farms. (Courtesy: Apex Clean Energy)

When Lightning Strikes

Wind turbines are at increased risk of lightning strikes, and early damage detection is a crucial cost-saving measure. One case study of the power of real-time analytics is managing these scenarios.

Recovering from lightning damage on wind farms has historically been both time consuming and costly. Site operators are often faced with the decision to perform a site-wide inspection after each storm or risk waiting until the end of lightning season to do a thorough inspection for damage.

If an inspection is performed after every storm, site availability will suffer — personnel cannot address faulty turbines in a timely fashion, and costs increase if outside technicians are brought in. If inspections are postponed until the end of lightning season, damage to blades may have propagated by that time, and repair costs will rise significantly in turn.

To highlight the difficulty in this trade-off:

  • Lightning often causes the joints between the blade shells to become separated. If a minor separation in the joint is caught quickly, then the repair can be done from a platform or ropes at a cost of $5,000 to $20,000. If the damage is not caught and the turbine goes on to operate, the joint will continue to separate, exponentially increasing the cost to repair it. There have been instances where the turbine shells separate completely; this is often referred to as a “banana-peel failure” and requires multiple cranes and extended turbine downtime. Costs in these cases can exceed $300,000.
  • Many wind farms are comprised of hundreds of turbines, making a site-wide inspection to catch damages costly to perform. This situation is intensified when the lightning season can potentially bring 20 to 30 days of lightning storms and even more lightning activity during the winter months.

ApexDetect

Sites managed by Apex’s Asset Management team are monitored by the internally developed lightning monitoring system ApexDetect. Every lightning strike within the borders of an Apex-operated wind farm is processed in real-time to determine whether the lightning was within the likely strike zone for each turbine.

A database of likely lightning strikes to turbines — including the strike magnitude and direction — feeds automatic reports for site management following a storm, as well as an online tool that maps out the location of each relevant strike in relation to turbines at the site.

After a storm, site managers are able to do a targeted inspection of only the turbines struck by lightning. This ensures lightning damage is caught and repaired immediately to minimize repair costs and avoids unnecessary inspections being performed.

In 2015, a turbine at an Apex-managed wind farm was struck by lightning. Using the ApexDetect tool and process, the damage was detected immediately after the strike. The lightning had caused visible but small damage to the blade shell.

There was no auditory signature to the failure, so it is unlikely the damage would have been detected without an inspection. And although the visible damage was small, the lightning had in fact caused internal structural damage to the blade.

Immediate detection using ApexDetect and a timely repair prevented complete blade failure and a cost savings to the project of $300,000.

Old Tech Gets a New Spin

Kenneth Carter
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Old Tech Gets a New Spin

Look at any traditional wind turbine in the world, and a common theme appears: Three blades gently chase each other in circles to create electricity.

Three-bladed wind turbines have been the norm for decades onshore, and that configuration followed wind as it went offshore.

But when it comes to constructing wind turbines off the coasts, three blades may be one blade too many, according to Martin Jakubowski, CEO of Seawind Systems.

“The problem with offshore wind in all these years — and I consider myself as a prophet in the desert — is that … they adapted the three-bladed configuration coming from the onshore experience, just marinized it and followed the same approach,” he said.

Jakubowski is a pioneer in renewable energy, having set up several groundbreaking companies across Europe. In 2002, he filed a number of patents for floating foundations, and in 2004, he set up Blue H Technologies, which installed the world’s first floating wind turbine in 2008 in the Southern Adriatic Sea.

Jakubowski said the current methods of building offshore wind turbines often can be inefficient and cost prohibitive.

By emulating what’s been done successfully on land, offshore wind-turbine construction can end up with difficult challenges.

“You’re going out piece-by-piece; you’re lifting with a crane the tower and the blades. So, they’ve duplicated onshore,” Jakubowski said. “Only that for offshore, you have to do it with vessels. Onshore, you can make it with a cheap crane truck. And that blew up the costs tremendously.”

A two-bladed wind turbine design could make offshore wind energy production more economically viable. (Courtesy: Seawind)

Two-Bladed Alternative

All that could change with the introduction of a unique two-bladed design.

Or make that re-introduction.

A two-bladed turbine design was developed by NASA, Boeing, Hamilton Standard (which is now United Technology), and by U.S./German helicopter pioneers.

And in 1982, Glidden Doman, the original father of the two-bladed technology, built a 4 MW wind turbine in Wyoming, while investors at the same time had funded a 30 kW turbine in Denmark.

Doman’s wind-turbine innovations were based on Anton Flettner’s premise that properly designed flexible helicopter-type rotors were more suitable for producing electricity from the wind than rigid airplane-type rotors.  Flettner, who served Germany with crucial inventions in both World Wars, collaborated with leading aeronautical engineers and physicists including Albert Betz, Jakob Ackeret, Ludwig Prandtl, and Albert Einstein.

“So there’s a huge difference between the U.S. development and the European development,” Jakubowski said.

The U.S. development had been pushed by a $300 million incentive from President Jimmy Carter to develop from-scratch utility-scale wind turbines.

“Which the Americans did,” Jakubowski said.

Denmark Advantage

But the smaller, less powerful three-bladed turbine designs in Denmark had a powerful legal bump.

The small turbines in Denmark in the 30 to 50 kW range were being sold because of a law developed by the Danes that guaranteed a fixed price for each kilowatt-hour produced, according to Jakubowski. The farmers in Denmark using the electricity got permission to feed it into the grid and received a guaranteed price for it.

That same scenario moved to Germany and to Spain and eventually a market was created by these incentives all over Europe.

“And that built up the three-bladed turbine industry,” Jakubowski said.

In the meantime, other forces kept American research and development from blossoming, according to Jakubowski.

“And what the USA did in the ’70s and ’80s, we had the oil-glut, and everything was dismissed and forgotten,” he said. “So there was no continuity in the work done in the ’70s and ’80s and later developments.”

Doman’s Concept

But Jakubowski and his company have recaptured the original concepts developed by Doman in the early ’80s while improving it and upsizing it. The turbines now have a 6.5 MW capacity.

Jakubowski admits he’s not trying to replace three-bladed turbines in land-based wind farms, but for the offshore market, which is just taking off in the U.S., two-bladed turbines might offer an ideal economic alternative.

“The two-blader has a higher rotation of speed, and since it has a higher rotation of speed, it makes a little bit more noise,” he said.

When turbines were being developed in the U.S. in the 1980s, noise wasn’t a consideration because there was a sparse population in the Midwest at the time.

“In Europe, in densely populated areas, it is an important consideration,” Jakubowski said.

In the two-bladed development, it’s more economical because the blades have a higher rotation, which means higher torque. With a higher torque, less rotation is needed to produce the same energy as in a three-bladed turbine, because energy is the product of the torque and the higher rotation, he said.

“We increased the rotational speed, and we reduced the torque; therefore, the turbine is lighter,” Jakubowski said. “The drivetrain is lighter because you have less material to handle, but the energy produced is the same.”

Aesthetically, that higher speed also is another reason two-bladers may be better suited for offshore.

“It’s rotating faster, so it’s not so pleasant to look at as a three-blader,” Jakubowski said. “In densely populated areas, you want to have something rotating slower and gently, and the perception in your eye of a two-blader, it’s not equal, but it’s pure perception. So it is not aesthetic, so that was a major reason two-bladers were run out of the market in Europe.”

The Teetering Hinge

Perhaps the most important development that makes the two-blader a viable alternative was also developed by the original inventor, Doman.

As a result of his knowledge from the helicopter industry, Doman introduced the “teetering hinge” between the rotor and the turbine shaft.

“The teetering hinge is a well-known concept in the helicopter industry,” Jakubowski said. “It gives flexibility to the rotor, so it introduces a second degree of freedom.”

The first degree of freedom is that the rotor can, of course, rotate, but that second degree allows the rotor to also tilt up and down.

The teetering hinge in a wind turbine performs the same function as it does in a helicopter: to overcome the gyroscopic forces, according to Jakubowski.

“A wind turbine with a fixed connection between the rotor and the shaft is a gyroscopic system,” he said. “So while this rotates, and you want to turn it into the wind, you have to overcome the gyroscopic forces created by the rotating rotor. But if you introduce a teetering hinge, it’s not fixed anymore … You have overcome the gyroscopic forces, so you can rotate it fast into the wind, but also you can rotate it fast out of the wind — and fast enough not to create damage to the turbine.”

This improvement eliminates the blade-pitch mechanism, which is needed to create the loads on the blades when there is too much wind. The teetering hinge simplifies the wind turbine significantly and makes it less expensive, according to Jakubowski.

“This is very important offshore where you don’t want to have complexity,” he said. “Onshore, you could somehow accept this complexity because I’ll go there with my truck and fix it. But offshore, if you have to go out, it’s a lot of costs. So you want to have a very simple solution offshore so virtually you have to never go out.”

This artist’s conception shows how the project will be taken out to sea on a barge that will be sunk 20 meters in order to release the unit. (Courtesy: Seawind)

Hurricane Safe

That simplicity is especially important for wind turbines that could be built in storm-prone waters.

“Because it’s a two-blader, you can put the blade into the hurricane, so the wind goes over the blade, whereas you can’t do that with a three-blader,” Jakubowski said. “You’ll always have something sticking up or down (with three blades).”

When wind speeds increase above 25 m/s (maximum producible wind speed), the blade tips can be turned into the wind in order to avoid it.

And since the blades are flexible thanks to the teetering hinge, the wind moves around the blade tip like a palm tree in the wind.

“It follows the forces of nature, as Doman always said, rather than resisting them,” Jakubowski said. “A three-blader has to resist. Our design complies with the forces of nature.”

And also because the teetering hinge is like a huge motorization system, it decreases the fatigue value on the turbine structure and the blades, which translates into more robust turbines made with less material, he said.

Demonstrator Turbine

There are a lot of hurdles Jakubowski and his team will have to overcome for the two-bladed turbines to gain some traction, but the concept has a promising start.

Seawind is in the process of building a 6.2 MW demonstrator turbine off the coast of Norway. It is planned to go operational in 2018, according to Jakubowski.

The project will be taken out to sea on a barge that will be sunk 20 meters in order to release the unit. It then will be stabilized by three floaters on the side. It will be pulled by tugboats to its final destination and lowered and attached to the previously prepared seabed.

“So, no crane vessels anymore,” Jakubowski said. “No expensive lifting operations at sea. We only use the density of water to have a floating system and to sink it onto the final position.”

It’s a potentially long road ahead before the two-bladed system becomes a commercially viable alternative, but Jakubowski is optimistic about its chances.

“We have been working on this 11 years,” he said.

And with many onshore areas incapable of supporting turbines, the coasts are ripe for future wind development.

“We concentrate on the two coastlines that have over 60 percent of the population,” Jakubowski said. “That is a major market for offshore development.”

For more information, go to seawindtechnology.com

Wind Works for America

John Hensley
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Wind Works for America

The numbers are in — America’s top renewable energy resource continues to grow, fostering economic development and delivering clean, low-cost energy across the country. Just as important, all the data indicate we can expect this growth to continue in the years ahead.

AWEA’s U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report, Year Ending 2016, released in April, provides a complete picture of industry activity last year. Let’s dig into the numbers and review the highlights.

They paint a clear picture: Wind works for America.

A lot of New Wind, More in Pipeline

American wind power now exceeds 82,000 MW of installed generating capacity, enough to power 24 million typical U.S. homes. That places it ahead of conventional hydropower as the country’s largest source of renewable generating capacity and the fourth largest source of electric capacity overall.

This development spans the nation. Down south, North Carolina became the 41st state with a utility-scale wind farm early in 2017, while projects began operating throughout the Midwest and Plains states and even as far away as Guam.

Wind supplied 5.5 percent of the country’s electricity in 2016. (Courtesy: AWEA)

More than 8,200 MW of new wind capacity came online in 2016, with significant amounts still to come. More than 18,000 MW remain under construction or in advanced development. Once online, these projects will provide enough new wind energy to power millions of additional American homes.

All of this new development means wind provides a growing share of our electricity mix. Wind supplied 5.5 percent of the country’s electricity in 2016, and remains on track to supply 10 percent of America’s electricity by 2020 — a goal set in the Department of Energy’s Wind Vision.

At the state level, results look even more impressive. Iowa led the way by generating more than 36 percent of its electricity using wind, while South Dakota also topped 30 percent. North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Kansas all generated more than 20 percent of their electricity from wind turbines. Overall, wind produced more than 10 percent of the electricity in 14 states.

Wind Growth Equals Job Growth

The U.S. wind industry also continued its role as a major job creator in 2016 — wind-related jobs total 102,500 and can be found in all 50 states.

More than 25,000 of these positions are manufacturing jobs at more than 500 U.S. factories that build wind-related parts and materials. This provides an important boost to a sector of the U.S. economy that has struggled for decades, and it helps bring new jobs to the places that need help the most, like the Rust Belt.

For example, Ohio leads the country with 62 wind factories, while Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have 26 each, and Michigan has 25. And while the Southeast has historically lagged in wind-farm installation, the region has a strong wind-manufacturing base, with more than 100 factories building components destined for wind turbines.

U.S. wind manufacturing will continue to grow. Wind-related manufacturing jobs could top 33,000 by 2020, according to Navigant Consulting — a gain of 8,000 new factory jobs by the end of President Donald J. Trump’s first term.

Wind energy also brings jobs to rural America, another area that needs new opportunities.

Wind-turbine technician is by far the country’s fastest growing job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Because 99 percent of wind farms are built in rural areas, wind-tech positions offer new jobs in places traditionally short on options. With the U.S. wind fleet now topping 52,000 turbines, with more coming in the years ahead, demand is surging for operations and maintenance jobs.

Importantly, the U.S. wind industry proudly offers good jobs to the men and women who serve our country — veterans find wind jobs at a rate 50 percent above the average industry, based on data from the Department of Energy.

Wind-related jobs should continue booming over the next four years and could near a quarter of a million by 2020, according to Navigant Consulting. A deeper analysis of Navigant’s report also finds manufacturing and installing each new turbine supports 18 full-time jobs.

Wind-related jobs should continue booming over the next four years. (Courtesy: AWEA)

Unmatched Investment in Rural America

The economic benefits of wind power extend far beyond job creation, however. Wind brings investment into rural America like few other industries.

“Wind energy, the fastest-growing source of electricity in the U.S., is transforming low-income rural areas in ways not seen since the federal government gave land to homesteaders 150 years ago,” the Omaha World-Herald recently reported. “As commodity prices threaten to reach decade lows and farmers struggle to meet debt payments, wind has saved family farms across a wide swath of the heartland.”

Wind power does this by offering the country’s farmers and ranchers a new drought-proof cash crop — landowners hosting turbines received at least $245 million in lease payments last year. They can count on that income, which helps a lot in the thin-margin agricultural business. It offers stability in times of drought or less-than-ideal market conditions. For many families, wind-lease payments make the difference between continuing a multi-generational tradition and ending a way of life.

“We weren’t making enough money to sustain ourselves,” Richard Wilson, a Colorado rancher, recently told Bloomberg Businessweek. “Now we’re in a position where we can operate our farm for another generation at least.”

However, wind-turbine landlords aren’t the only beneficiaries. Wind farms often pay the largest share of a county’s taxes, substantially boosting local revenue. That adds new resources to county budgets, needed to pay teacher salaries, repair roads, or buy new snowplows. New wind projects will pay $8 billion in taxes over the next four years, on top of tax revenue from existing projects, according to Navigant.

Overall, wind is expected to drive $85 billion of domestic economic activity through 2020.

Utilities and Fortune 500’s Drive Demand

Both utilities and non-traditional purchasers like Fortune 500 companies continue to drive new demand for wind.

America’s large electric utilities have indicated they plan to continue adding more renewable energy to their electricity mixes. In April, PacifiCorp announced plans to add substantial new wind generation, upgrade its existing wind fleet, and build new transmission to open access to more wind energy.

“These investments will significantly increase the amount of clean renewable energy serving customers and reduce costs at the same time,” said Stefan Bird, president and CEO of Pacific Power, the unit of PacifiCorp that serves customers in Oregon, Washington, and California. “This is a win-win and represents our continued commitment to both reduce the environmental impact of the energy we produce and keep costs low.”

In 2016, both MidAmerican Energy and Alliant Energy committed to billion-dollar investments in new wind projects. Meanwhile, Xcel

Energy announced plans to develop new wind projects in seven states, including Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, and South Dakota.

Wind brings investment into rural America like few other industries. (Courtesy: AWEA)

“We’re investing big in wind because of the tremendous economic value it brings to our customers,” said Ben Fowke, Xcel’s chairman, president, and CEO. “With wind energy at historic low prices, we can secure savings that will benefit customers now and for decades to come.”

Large corporations also want to make more of their products using wind power.

Google expects to run all of its worldwide operations using renewable energy in 2017, sourcing 95 percent of that electricity from wind.

Earlier this year, Home Depot purchased enough wind for 100 of its Texas stores. GM bought enough wind power to run 100 percent of an Arlington, Texas, factory where the company builds 125,000 SUVs a year. And Amazon has agreements to run data centers in four states using wind energy.

“This pursuit of renewable energy benefits our customers and communities through cleaner air while strengthening our business through lower and more stable energy costs,” said GM CEO Mary Barra, speaking about her company’s pledge to transition to 100 percent renewable energy.

Both utilities and Fortune 500 companies remain enthusiastic about adding wind power because, in many parts of the country, wind beats all other generation sources on cost, and it’s cost-competitive in many more. In fact, today wind costs 66 percent less than just seven years ago. Technological advances spurred by American innovation played an important role in this decline, allowing wind turbines to reach stronger, steadier winds, making more electricity more of the time.

Wind power remains on track to supply 10 percent of America’s electricity. It creates new jobs and invests in the communities that need help the most. And many of the world’s most successful businesses turn to wind as a solution for their energy needs. That offers plenty of proof that wind works for America.

PacifiCorp Plans Significant New Clean Energy Investments

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PacifiCorp Plans Significant New Clean Energy Investments

PacifiCorp recently released a long-term energy plan that looks to new investments in renewable energy resources, upgrades to the company’s existing wind fleet, and energy efficiency measures to meet future customer energy needs. The $3.5 billion expansion plan, set to be in place by 2020, also incorporates building a segment of the Gateway West transmission line to facilitate the wind expansion.

The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which was filed with utility regulators across PacifiCorp’s six-state service territory, is used as a road map to help the company provide reliable electric service to customers at the lowest cost. The 2017 IRP includes the investments set for the end of 2020, but also looks 20 years down the road:

  • Upgrading more than 900 MW of existing wind plants with larger blades and newer technology to generate more energy in a wider range of wind conditions by 2020.
  • Beginning construction on a segment of the Gateway West 500-kilovolt transmission line between Medicine Bow, Wyoming, and the Jim Bridger power plant in the southwestern part of the state. The 140-mile line, set to be in service by the end of 2020, would enable additional wind generation and improve the operational efficiency of the broader system by relieving transmission congestion in Wyoming.
  • Building 1,100 MW of new wind projects, primarily in Wyoming, by the end of 2020.
  • Adding another 859 MW of new wind capacity — 85 MW in
  • Wyoming and 774 MW in Idaho — between 2028 and 2036.
  • Building 1,040 MW of new solar capacity between 2028 and 2036.

The plan incorporates the company’s environmental compliance obligations for its coal-fired plants.

By moving to complete the wind upgrades and developments by 2020, the company will be able to use federal production tax credits.

Energy efficiency continues to play a key role in the company’s long-term resource plans. The 2017 IRP anticipates energy efficiency will offset 88 percent of forecasted growth in energy usage over the next 10 years and continue to limit the need for new power plants. 

Source: PacifiCorp

For more information, go to pacificorp.com/irp

LM Wind Power Lays First Stone at Cherbourg Blade Factory

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LM Wind Power Lays First Stone at Cherbourg Blade Factory

LM Wind Power, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of wind-turbine blades, recently announced work on its new factory in Cherbourg, Normandy, has begun.

This was marked with a foundation stone ceremony at the construction site, chaired by French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve in the presence of industry and representatives from the local partners, including Normandy region, the Manche Department, the local community of Cherbourg, and the port authority, Ports Normands Associés (PNA). The company brings an initial investment of more than 100 million euros into the development of the Cherbourg site, which is expected to grow to a capacity between 1.2 and 2 GW.

The ramp-up to production of blades destined for European offshore wind farms is expected during 2018. The company aims to begin hiring and training after the summer, with a plan for more than 550 people at the facility once the first production lines are in place. The training will start in a new Center of Excellence that will provide the skills needed for a new strategically important green business. The plant is scaled for growth and is already in the initial phase expected to generate 2,000 further indirect jobs in the local area.

“LM Wind Power is open for offshore business in Cherbourg,” said Alexis Crama, LM Wind Power’s vice president Offshore.  “We are delighted to celebrate the laying of the first stone together with our partners for one of the largest inward investments in Normandy by an industrial business for many years. With this facility, we are hoping to attract both existing and new customers that will develop the offshore wind industry with us. Together, we will develop and produce reliable and high performance ultra-long blades that will continue to drive down the levelized cost of energy from offshore wind to the benefit of people and the environment.”

“The offshore market in Europe provides significant opportunities for growth in the coming years, and we are proud to be right at the center of that development with this new Cherbourg blade plant,” said LM Wind Power CEO Marc de Jong. “We thank GE Renewable Energy for their support to this second-to-none project, and we look forward to welcoming many new customers and hundreds of French colleagues into our global family.” 

Source: LM Wind Power

For more information, go to www.lmwindpower.com

Strategic Pivot to Wind

Lizzy Yates
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Strategic Pivot to Wind

There is a place where you will find a growing, clean energy portfolio bound by a strategic business approach. Southern Power, the wholesale subsidiary of Southern Company, is home to more than 12,600 MW, a third of which are renewable and have been built or acquired over the past few years alone. In that mix is more than 1,400 MW of wind power, a number the company expects to double by 2020.

Southern Power, which was started in 2001 with a primary focus on natural gas, first made the pivot to renewables in 2010 with the acquisition of the 30-MW Cimarron Solar Facility in New Mexico. Until that point, the company’s fleet had consisted of approximately 8,000 MW of natural gas-fired generation in the Southeast. Between 2010 and 2015, the company developed or acquired 17 facilities from coast to coast, representing 1,900 MW and $4.5 billion in renewable investment.

First Wind Asset

Until 2015, Southern Power had primarily focused on utility-scale solar and natural gas projects that fit its business strategy, which is to build or acquire projects with minimal fuel and/or transmission risk that are covered by long-term, bilateral contracts with creditworthy counterparties. Consistent with that approach in March of 2015, Southern Power announced the acquisition of its first wind asset — the 299-MW Kay Wind Facility in Oklahoma.

“With the energy landscape constantly changing, it’s critical for us to remain vigilant and look for strategic opportunities that meet market demands while maintaining our risk profile,” said Buzz Miller, president and CEO of Southern Power. ”Our company believes in the full portfolio of energy resources. At the end of 2014, we began to recognize that wind technology was maturing. The business profile matched Southern Power’s investment criteria, and we were able to further diversify our fleet.”

Between 2015 and 2016, Southern Power added seven wind facilities capable of generating 1,164 MW across Texas, Oklahoma, and Maine.

Image 1

In addition, at the end of 2016, the company announced a joint development agreement (JDA) with Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES) to develop and construct approximately 3,000 MW of wind projects. Southern Power also signed agreements with Siemens and Vestas to supply turbines for the projects.

The strategy behind the JDA was to take advantage of the pivotal point in a time where there was certainty of the production tax credit phase-out in 2020. Southern Power’s experience in other generating technologies, along with strong relationships with partners like RES, allowed the company to secure equipment in a pipeline of wind-development projects expected to be commercial over the next three years.

“With Southern Power being very active on the acquisition front, we identified an opportunity to team with three premier organizations that will allow us to move further up the development chain by co-developing the projects within the JDA,” Miller said.

Applying to Wind

Southern Power is known within the industry as a world-class operator of natural gas generators, with an industry-leading equivalent forced outage rate (EFOR) and safety record. Moving forward, the company plans to take that same approach and experience and apply it to wind generation.  

According to SNL energy analysis, there is significant wind growth projected over the next 20 years, and with turbines getting bigger, more efficient, and costs coming down, the wind industry is expected to thrive. If that holds true and the demand is still robust, Southern Power is well-positioned to be a premier owner and operator in the renewable industry, and it will continue to influence policy on behalf of its customers.  

“At the end of the day, we’re helping Southern Company build energy for the future,” Miller said. “Wind is definitely a part of that future, and we’re committed to bringing efficient, economic projects to the market that provide value to our customers.”

Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, is a leading U.S. wholesale energy provider meeting the electricity needs of municipalities, electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, and other energy customers. Southern Power and its subsidiaries own or have the rights to 46 facilities operating or under construction in 11 states with more than 12,600 MW of generating capacity in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas. 

Editors Desk

Kenneth Carter
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Editors Desk

It’s May, and if you’re involved in practically any aspect of the wind industry, then you’re probably headed to Anaheim, California, for the American Wind Energy Association’s biggest trade show of the year, WINDPOWER 2017.

Just like the wind-energy field itself, the event has grown and evolved to meet the needs of the industry in new and exciting ways.

This will be my first WINDPOWER show, and I am so excited to meet with wind-energy experts and companies as I continue to learn more about groundbreaking technologies and innovations, so I can bring them to you in future issues.

This year’s show in Anaheim should prove to be fun and informative. To help get you ready for the big show, the May issue of Wind Systems is highlighting some companies expected to be there. In addition to that, experts from AWEA have shared some of their insight into not just what to expect at the coming show, but a look at the great strides wind power has made and will continue to make.

Starting with our Conversation feature, Jana Adams, AWEA’s senior vice president for member value and experience, highlights some of the unique new features and programs AWEA is bringing to this year’s event. I’m not a big fan of spoilers, but suffice it to say, Disney will be involved. How could it not?

Since this month’s inFocus topic is WINDPOWER 2017, we asked AWEA to chime in on the state of wind energy in the U.S.

John Hensley, AWEA’s deputy director for industry and data analysis, offers a detailed report card on the health of wind in America. It seems practically every facet of the industry is robust and strong and growing stronger every day.

Our Company Profile features Logisticus Group. The transportation company is still considered a relatively young entity in the industry, but Logisticus Group’s CEO says that youth is not only a good thing in general, but an asset to what the company can specifically offer to wind.

Also in our inFocus section, Apex Clean Energy shares its insights on how data collection is being used to optimize turbine performance, and EdgeData walks us through how its inspection software helps to collect data necessary to keep those turbines running efficiently.

I hope the features in this issue will help get you even more excited about WINDPOWER 2017. A lot goes into bringing a show of this magnitude to you, and it looks like it’s not going to disappoint.

If you’re headed to the show, be sure and check out the Wind Systems booth (No. 3772). Come by, and say hello. I’d love to meet you.

And as always, thanks for reading!

Poseidon to Supply Wear Debris Monitoring Solutions for Gearbox Express

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Poseidon to Supply Wear Debris Monitoring Solutions for Gearbox Express

Poseidon Systems, LLC recently announced a supply agreement with Gearbox Express, North America’s largest independent remanufacturer of gearbox assemblies and mainshafts for the wind-turbine industry. Through this agreement, Poseidon Systems will supply Gearbox Express with wear debris monitoring sensors and remote monitoring services for all Gearbox Express Revolution series wind-turbine gearboxes.

“We are delighted that an industry leader like Gearbox Express has selected Poseidon System’s online metallic debris monitoring system to provide real-time health monitoring of their flagship product,” said Mark Redding, president of Poseidon Systems. “Metallic wear debris monitoring offers our customers many benefits including reduced cost of gearbox maintenance, reduced downtime, and extended gearbox life. Gearbox Express has recognized these capabilities and is allowing their customers to reap the benefits by incorporating this technology.”

Poseidon Systems will supply metallic wear debris monitoring equipment and services for all Gearbox Express remanufactured gearboxes. Per the agreement, Poseidon is providing its Trident DM4500 metallic wear debris monitors coupled with Trident AP2200 data collector/communication devices, and Poseidon Live for online data analysis and remote monitoring. The combination of these technologies provides an easy-to-install, easy-to-use gearbox condition monitoring capability.

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“It is our belief that metallic debris monitoring provides the earliest, most reliable, most cost-effective gearbox condition monitoring solution,” said Bruce Neumiller, CEO of Gearbox Express. “We selected Poseidon based on their ability to provide an exceptional sensing capability that is coupled with an affordable remote monitoring and analysis service. This technology is one of many enhancements included in Revolution gearboxes and is aligned with our belief that our customers deserve the highest quality gearbox and support available in the industry.”

Gearbox Express (GBX) is a market leader in wind-turbine gearbox remanufacturing and maintenance expertise. GBX is a firm believer in proactive gearbox life-cycle management and is offering the wear debris monitoring service to their customers to improve life-cycle management practices. Through Poseidon’s online data portal, GBX can quickly assess the health state of all their assets and deploy service teams to perform preventative maintenance activities. Ultimately the technology provides the customer with reductions in equipment repair costs and downtime, while allowing for safe gearbox life extension through real-time fault progression monitoring. 

Source: Poseidon Systems, LLC

For more information, go to www.Poseidonsys.com

Neoen Chooses QOS Energy’s O&M Software for Australian Wind Farm

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Neoen Chooses QOS Energy’s O&M Software for Australian Wind Farm

Neoen, a leading renewable project developer and owner, has chosen QOS Energy’s innovative O&M management platform to monitor the performance of the 315 MW Hornsdale wind project, which will be one of the largest wind farms operating in Australia once it’s fully commissioned.

The project, consisting of 96 Siemens 3.2 MW wind turbines, is being built in three stages; two of which have been completed. Neoen has deployed Qantum®, the IEC compliant energy management SaaS powered by QOS Energy, to monitor the two first stages of the project.  

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One main benefit for Neoen is the fact that no additional hardware or system installation is required onsite to run the software, which allows for a swift and cost effective set-up of data-acquisition processes. The platform gathers and analyzes data generated by each turbine for all measured values using a secure VPN connection. Qantum is compatible with every kind of wind turbine, communication standard, or database-connection protocol.

“We are very proud of the successful collaboration we have with Neoen for this important project,” said Fabrice Wacogne, chief customer success officer at QOS Energy.

Neoen can customize operating dashboards, analysis, KPIs, alerts, reports, or contracts depending on its specific needs. The engineering team of QOS Energy has delivered bespoke performance indicators and KPIs for the whole wind farm, and custom operating dashboards have been delivered for each user type. 

Source: Neoen

For more information, go to www.neoen.com

ITL Develops Radar Compatible Obstruction Light

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ITL Develops Radar Compatible Obstruction Light

As the wind industry has evolved over the last decade, many new changes were brought forth in the latest edition of the FAA Advisory Circular, AC No: 70/7460-IL released in December of 2015. One of those changes allowed the use of ADLS (Aircraft Detection Lighting System) on wind farms.

This change is in relation to the ever-growing and expanding wind industry as more wind farms are built supplying a sustainable and renewable energy source to consumers. As an obstruction lighting manufacturer, International Tower Lighting (ITL) supports the continued progression of the wind industry while working to exceed the standards set forth by the FAA and understanding how important an ALDS is in mitigating light pollution.

In early 2016, ITL supplied its new radar compatible obstruction light to the first FAA-approved commercial operation of an ADLS on a U.S. wind farm. ITL continues to work with various radar companies and recently successfully integrated its IFH-1710-A00 with DeTect.

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DeTect’s Harrier ADLS system is a radar-activated obstruction lighting control system based on DeTect’s Harrier Security and Surveillance radar. It is used to provide cost-effective, reliable, long-range detection, tracking, and intrusion alerting of cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft, ultralights, and drones/UAVs by airports and industrial facilities. It is also used for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sense-and-avoid and for rocket-launch airspace intrusion control.

For ADLS use, Harrier advantages include solid-state Doppler radar sensors, secondary ADS-B and TAS receivers, and interconnectivity with a wide range of obstruction lighting and SCADA networks. The system is also fully remote controlled, ground-based for lower installation and O&M costs, and provides longer-range detection. This means fewer units are needed at a large site. The technology is being used in 280 systems operating worldwide in a variety of applications and environments.

ITL was founded in 1998 developing aftermarket replacement parts and common component repairs. Today, ITL provides a variety of quality products, replacement parts, and technical support for most lighting systems in use. Its IFH-1710 provides wind-industry customers with a durable, dependable obstruction light with ease of maintenance and cost savings.

DeTect is a U.S.-based, global leader in remote sensing technologies with offices in the U.S. and Europe and projects worldwide. DeTect’s products include drone surveillance and interdiction systems, aircraft bird strike avoidance radars, UAV ground-based sense-and-avoid systems, airspace and marine security radars, border protection radars, and bird radars for wind farm and industrial bird control and protection. 

Source: International Tower Lighting

For more information, go to www.itl-llc.com

Radar Technology Used to Increase Wind-Turbine Efficiency

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Radar Technology Used to Increase Wind-Turbine Efficiency

The share of wind energy in the electricity mix is steadily increasing around the globe and is accompanied by a growing need for efficient and high-quality wind turbines with the “Made in Germany” seal. The rotor blades are the centerpiece of a wind turbine, with their production and maintenance subject to rigorous testing procedures. An innovative radar scanner from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF can detect defects in the material composition of the wind turbine blades with far greater accuracy and visualized in a cross-sectional view, thereby saving costs in production and operation.

Wind power has become an indispensable part of an environmentally friendly power supply. Approximately 50 GW, equivalent to 12 percent of the total power in Germany, are generated by more than 28,000 wind turbines — with an upward trend. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, the global wind-power capacity will quadruple to 2,110 GW by 2030 — constituting 20 percent of the global electricity supply. Therefore, it is all the more important for this growth market that wind turbines become more efficient, more reliable, and more durable.

According to industry experts, weak points in blade production, for example, could result in unplanned additional operation and maintenance costs amounting to several hundred thousand euros over the entire service life of the turbine. To increase the efficiency and reliability of wind turbines, Fraunhofer IAF has developed a material scanner for checking the quality of rotor blades. Using radar-based technology, defects in the material composition of the wind-turbine blades can be detected in even greater detail.

Identifying Defects

The rotors, which are usually equipped with three blades, are the central component of all wind turbines. They convert wind into rotational energy, and then into electricity. Much like the wings on an aircraft, the blades are subjected to enormous external loads and therefore must be designed to be extremely robust. Modern wind-turbine blades are mainly constructed from glass fiber and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP/CFRP), so they can elastically absorb the wind energy from strong gusts without breaking. For a single blade, up to 100 sheets of glass fiber webbing are layered on top of each other, shaped and then glued together with epoxy resin. Quality control is essential at this stage in production.

“The difficulty lies in layering the glass fiber sheets flat before they are glued, without creating undulations and folds, and avoiding the formation of lumps of resin or sections of laminate, which don’t set when applying the epoxy,” said Axel Hülsmann, coordinator of the radar project and group manager of sensor systems at the Fraunhofer IAF.

These kinds of defects, as well as delaminations or fractures, can be identified on a large-scale using infrared thermography.

“Our material scanner enables defects to be identified with even greater accuracy, as depth resolution is also possible with radar technology — even in places where ultrasound methods fail,” Hülsmann said.

Cross-Sectional Profiles

At the core of the material scanner is a high-frequency radar, which operates in the W band between 85 and 100 GHz with only a few watts of transmitting power. Specialized software is then used to process the transmitter and receiver signals and visualize the measurement results.

“This enables us to generate a cross-sectional view of the blade, in which defects can be identified in the millimeter range, and makes our material scanner significantly more accurate than conventional methods,” Hülsmann said.

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The radar module is based on indium gallium arsenide semiconductor technology. It is extremely light and compact due to its monolithically integrated construction, in which different components and functions are integrated into a single chip. Measuring 42 mm x 28 mm x 79 mm, it weighs 160 grams. It has a low power consumption of about 5 watts and is fitted with an integrated microcontroller that emits measurement signals via an internet interface.

Future improvements will see the module’s frequency range extended to 260 GHz into the so-called H band.

“This will quadruple the bandwidth of the radar module from 15 GHz to over 60 GHz,” Hülsmann said. “While the resolution of the rotor blade cross-section is already very high, our aim is to improve it even further.”

Lower Maintenance Costs

In addition to its use in the production of rotor blades, in the future, the Fraunhofer IAF material scanner also may find a role in maintenance, where it could be used to classify defects, such as those caused by the impact of birds.

“Currently, the routine testing of rotor blades is mainly performed by hand: An expert knocks on the blade with a hammer and can tell from the tone whether there are any defects in that section,” Hülsmann said. “An automated solution, supplemented by our radar technology, could vastly reduce the downtime of wind turbines and thus save costs.”

This is particularly true for the manual maintenance of offshore wind turbines, which must be reached by boat, sometimes on harsh seas — a time-consuming process.

Alternative testing technologies, such as ultrasound solutions, are extremely difficult to integrate into maintenance procedures.

“Water or gel has to be utilized as a coupling agent, as every air pocket between the sensor and measured part muffles the ultrasound signal to a considerable extent,” Hülsmann said. “While this entails certain side effects, it is nonetheless possible when checking for defects during rotor-blade production. But applying water or gel to wind-turbine blades, which are 100 meters in the air, is extremely complicated. Because it allows for non-contact remote sensing, radar is the optimal solution in this case.”

The radar scanner from Fraunhofer IAF can contribute to the development of innovative material inspections in other industries as well — for example in the aircraft industry. In newer aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner or the Airbus A350, the wings in particular are mainly built out of lightweight composite materials.

“In the aircraft industry, as in the plastics industry, an accurate and rapid defect test during both production and maintenance can save costs and prevent damage caused by material fatigue,” Hülsmann said. 

Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics

For more information, go to www.iaf.fraunhofer.de

Vaisala’s Triton Wind Profiler Powers Through Two Winters North of the Arctic Circle

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Vaisala’s Triton Wind Profiler Powers Through Two Winters North of the Arctic Circle

The Triton Wind Profiler manufactured by Vaisala, a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement, has shown exceptional performance across two winters in the northern reaches of Finland. With two Tritons measuring the wind for Finnish developer and operator Puhuri Oy, Vaisala has demonstrated the unmatched resilience of the system in extreme winter conditions and the strategic and logistical advantages of remote sensing for wind-energy firms in cold climates across the globe.

“We build and operate wind parks in some of the world’s most challenging weather conditions,” said Teppo Hilakivi, technical expert at Puhuri Oy. “Vaisala’s Triton is the only practical way to reduce the uncertainty in our annual energy projections, allowing us to improve the profitability of our development process.”

Wind-energy developers are increasingly exploring wind potential in northern latitudes, encouraged by high wind speeds and a clear route to project permitting far from population centers. Innovation in cold-climate wind-turbine technology, such as anti-icing and heating systems, has accelerated the expansion of the wind energy in markets such as northern Europe and Canada.

However, while advancements in turbine technology are driving growth, shortfalls in traditional resource assessment and site analysis approaches have, in many cases, thwarted the efforts of developers and operators in these regions. Cold, icy weather complicates the installation of measurement masts and can damage mechanical sensors, while off-grid locations and low solar availability in polar regions make it difficult and costly to keep large instruments powered-up.

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Remote sensing is swiftly becoming the preferred approach for collecting hub-height measurements for wind-resource assessment and also enables developers to collect reliable early-site data before making further investment decisions. Yet, when it comes to operations in temperatures down to minus-40 degrees C, many remote sensing devices suffer from performance and reliability issues — ranging from icing issues to intensive fuel requirements — that ultimately drive up maintenance costs and affect the quality of the data collected.

“Triton’s resilience in cold climate conditions is impressive — its measurements are very accurate, and the power consumption is so low that we can easily keep it running for three or four months without refuelling,” Hilakivi said. “And when it does come time to move the Triton to a new site, it’s light enough to be towed by a normal passenger car.”

Vaisala’s Triton Wind Profiler is built to withstand harsh winter weather conditions, and the compact, mobile unit has the lowest power requirements of any system used in the wind industry. With an optional methanol-fueled extended power option to supplement the Triton’s solar panels during low sunlight months, the system offers continuous, unattended operation for several months without refueling.

These features have enabled Puhuri to conduct extensive six- to 14-month measurement campaigns throughout northern Finland, improving the profitability of the company’s wind-development projects.

Vaisala’s Triton Wind Profiler has been deployed at more than 3,700 locations across more than 30 countries worldwide to support project stakeholders from site and resource assessment to ongoing operational performance analysis. 

Source: Vaisala

For more information,  go to www.vaisala.com/energy

Spectro Scientific Wins Patent for Method Used in Its CoolCheck 2 Analyzer

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Spectro Scientific Wins Patent for Method Used in Its CoolCheck 2 Analyzer

Spectro Scientific, one of the world’s largest suppliers of oil, fuel, and processed water analysis instrumentation and software, has been awarded U.S. patent 9,448,112 B2 for a method to measure two key vehicle fluids. The patent for “Multifunctional fluid meter and method for measuring coolant, bio-diesel, gas-ethanol and DEF” has also been granted in Australia.

The CoolCheck 2TM is a dual wavelength spectrometer specifically designed to test coolant and diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) without the use of chemical reagents or solvents. Specially designed sample cuvettes allow the analyzer to read in both the UV-visible and NIR range simultaneously. The measurement method provides eight key coolant parameters or two DEF parameters in less than one minute.

A recently released calibration update improves the performance in measuring nitrites, a key coolant additive. This new method is able to analyze a wider range of coolants on the market today as well as new fluids when they are introduced.

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The CoolCheck 2 measures the coolant or DEF directly from the vehicle and is designed to be easily operated by vehicle maintenance staff. The analyzer’s on-site analysis capability, speed, and convenience eliminate the wait associated with outsourcing laboratory analyses and provide better accuracy than simple test strip methods. The CoolCheck 2 is a companion device to Spectro Scientific’s MicroLab® automated on-site oil analyzer, which allows a mechanic to analyze all major vehicle fluids to diagnose the health of the equipment and identify potential problems.

“This patent award reinforces Spectro’s role as a world leader in fluid analysis technology,” said Patrick Henning, Spectro Scientific’s chief technology officer. “It especially benefits our fleet customers with faster and better on-site coolant and DEF measurement, which complements our capability for on-site oil analysis.”

The CoolCheck 2 with the updated calibration is available now. 

Source: Spectro Scientific

For more information, go to www.spectrosci.com

Hazon Solutions Launches New Drone Program for Fortune 1000 Companies

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Hazon Solutions Launches New Drone Program for Fortune 1000 Companies

Hazon Solutions, the national leader in drone inspection services, recently launched The Hazon Drone Capability Development (DCD) program. The Hazon DCD is a comprehensive suite of services designed to support enterprise clients starting up an organic drone operations program.

The Hazon DCD program includes tailored program design, basic and advanced drone flight training, and complete program management. To complement its DCD program, Hazon also offers value-added equipment sales and consulting services. The company’s commercial efforts are focused on Fortune 1000 organizations that have made large infrastructure investments, including large utilities and Class I railroads.

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“We’re thrilled to carry our reputation for excellence in inspection services into other sectors of the drone space,” said Hazon CEO David Culler Jr. “The Drone Capability Development segment of our business is a logical progression. We’ve leveraged our experience in drone operations and responded to a strong demand signal from our existing customers.”

Hazon has appointed Ed Hine to lead the new business segment as director of drone capability development. Hine previously served as Hazon’s director of transportation and training. He brings nearly two decades of aviation experience to the DCD program, including 12 years flying for the United States Navy.  

“I’m humbled and excited to be leading this effort for Hazon,” Hine said. “We’ve spent a great deal of time and energy developing the DCD program to meet the needs of our customers. I am confident that we have built an outstanding solution set for organizations looking to create a drone program of their own.”

“It’s an exciting time at Hazon,” Culler said. “We’re looking at significant expansions to Hazon as a whole, as well as the DCD program in the coming months.” 

Source: Hazon Solutions

For more information, go to www.hazonsolutions.com

Adwen in Final Installation Stage of AD 8-180 Prototype

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Adwen in Final Installation Stage of AD 8-180 Prototype

Adwen continues the development of its 8 MW platform and has entered the final stages in the installation of the AD 8-180 prototype in Bremerhaven, Germany. The foundation, including hammering 51 piles into the ground and installing 1,700 cubic meters of concrete, was finished earlier this year. In addition, the first three sections of the tower have been installed, including the power section with the fourth expected soon after. The fifth and final section will be installed at the same time as the nacelle.

The pre-commissioning tests of the nacelle were successfully completed at Fraunhofer IWES DyNaLab. Back at Adwen’s facilities, the hub has been mounted on the nacelle, and this assembled unit is undergoing additional testing. Finally, the world’s longest blades are stored on the site ready to be lifted.

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Over the past 18 months, the 8 MW platform has undergone one of the most extensive validation campaigns in the industry. During this period, individual and fully integrated subsystems have been tested, and the results confirm the robustness of the turbine design. The comprehensive process has been of paramount importance to minimize technological risks. This will help speed-up the certification of the platform, and it provides customers with confidence in its expected performance.

“As we get closer to the commissioning of the AD 8-180 prototype, I am excited to have the opportunity to confirm what we have learned during one of the most demanding validation campaigns this industry has ever seen,” said David Guiu, Adwen chief commercial officer. “We are convinced that our wind turbine will be a top performer and a key contribution in the race to reduce the levelized cost of offshore wind energy thanks to its reliability and unmatched annual energy production (AEP).”

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The AD 8-180 is based on the proven technology of Adwen’s 5 MW platform, of which the company has manufactured close to 1 GW. With 8 MW of nominal capacity and a 180-meter rotor, the AD 8-180 delivers the largest AEP in the industry contributing to competitive offshore wind cost of energy. The AD 8-180 has been selected for three projects off the coasts of France, totaling 1.5 GW. 

Source: Adwen

For more information, go to www.adwenoffshore.com

Gearbox Express Unveils Its Revolution 2.0

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Gearbox Express Unveils Its Revolution 2.0

With a one-two punch from the recent Wind Energy Update O&M Conference in Dallas, Gearbox Express (GBX), unveiled its upgraded version of its proprietary gearbox, Revolution 2.0, while being nominated for an award citing its technological advancements. Wind O&M is the only conference in the world that specifically acknowledges and awards innovation in the O&M sector. This recognition further confirms what GBX already believes: that it has created a technical product unlike anything else in the industry.

“We were thrilled by the nomination and are ecstatic about being recognized as one the industry’s top innovative advancement,” said Bruce Neumiller, CEO of Gearbox Express. “The wind industry has wrestled with gearbox failures since its inception. Innovations are incorporated to provide a solution to a problem and since most gearboxes are less than 10-years old, the problems of them failing are just getting started. We created our company to meet these challenges head-on and we are succeeding.”

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Since the company’s opening in 2012, GBX recognized the futility in providing like-for-like gearbox replacements: Why replace or repair with something that’s no different than what just failed? Gearbox Express unveiled its Revolution gearbox in 2013 to address the common failure characteristics seen in a majority of gearboxes. After successfully installing more than 200 Revolution gearboxes across the United States, GBX saw opportunity.

“For more than three years, GBX has been researching why some gearbox planetary configurations were achieving less than half of their designed lifespan,” Neumiller said. “Those development efforts are now introducing the next big step in innovation — Revolution 2.0.”

The top features of the Revolution 2.0 gearbox include:

  • A redesigned planetary gear/bearing interface where the bearing outer races are machined into the gear.
  • Integral tapered rollers are used in lieu of cylindrical rollers. Tapers permit preloading, which increases system stiffness and improves load share.

    • Reduces internal bearing stress and improves life 170 percent.
    • Reduces rim deflection by 460 percent, reducing bending stress and propensity to crack planet gears.
  • Steel that’s cleaner than ISO 6336-5 ME, one grade higher than wind gearbox standard MQ.

    • Improves both contact and bending gear rating, allowing planet gears to run with more safety factor and dramatically reduces risk of failing from material inclusions.
  • In-house super finishing reduces as-ground surface finishes by 50 percent, ensuring bearing life while improving gear rating.
  • Outfitted with a metallic wear debris monitor from Poseidon Systems allowing GBX to remotely monitor and proactively address any issues.
  • Backed by its industry-leading five-year warranty, which includes crane and labor expenses. 

Source: Gearbox Express

For more information, go to gearboxexpress.com

Profile: Logisticus Group

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Profile: Logisticus Group

Wind-turbine parts are big. So it only stands to reason that moving those big parts to their final destination would be a big job.

Planning, coordinating, and constant monitoring are essential when moving massive wind-tower sections and blades across the country. A missed calculation could equal big problems for cargo moving through rural America.

The experts at Logisticus Group manage the complexities of transporting massive wind-turbine parts, making sure every project or  move begins and ends without a glitch. And they do that with a heavy dose of technology.

“Our goals are to bring technology to the traditional transportation industry, to create new services that are growing and evolving as the wind-energy market evolves, and to bring a new level of service that the industry has not truly been accustomed to,” said Logisticus Group CEO Vikash Patel.

Logisticus Group uses drones for overhead photos and video during route feasibility assessments and projects, as well as for aerial mapping of current or potential wind-project sites. (Photos courtesy: Logisticus Group)

Technology is Key

Patel said Logisticus saw a gap in the transportation market where the introduction of technology, as well as a specific skill set, could fill a void in the wind industry.

“With all of our services, including GPS tracking, we measure data through the use of online systems and turn around and push out customer dashboards, so they can understand performance levels, inventory levels, and KPIs (key performance indicators),” he said.

KPI examples include crane efficiencies, truck efficiencies and rail efficiencies, measuring the operations in real time. Logisticus provides that information to stakeholders as it’s collected, according to Patel.

“Changes and decisions can be made in real time versus looking at everything at the end of a project and coming up with lessons learned for the next project,” he said. “We’re looking for real-time change.”

As turbines continue to increase in size, Patel said turbine transportation must include more preparation before those parts even come close to hitting the road.

Logisticus Group leverages its long-standing relationships with government and DOT entities to ensure client wind components are delivered safely and on time.

Upstream Planning

“There’s very little we can do to impede the growth of a turbine,” he said. “That’s market driven by market demand. As they’ve gotten bigger, it requires even more upstream planning — working with the local authorities and working with the customers to ensure roadways are going to be capable of handling these types of larger blades specifically. In short, working upstream with the Department of Transportation, the customers, and the local authorities to make sure there’s not a problem when it comes time to ‘turn the faucet on,’ and working with them to improve turning radiuses or to determine routing from point A to point B without any damage.”

Logisticus is now handling projects that involve re-powering, which often includes disposing of or recycling older wind-turbine blades as they are removed from obsolete units or are replaced as turbines are upgraded for larger megawatt output.

“We also just opened up a warehouse in Iowa, which is a distribution center where we’re refurbishing fixtures that are used to transport towers, blades, etc.,” Patel said. “And the newest is our rail division where we have engineering and operational expertise to help support our customers’ rail operations when it comes to transporting turbines to wind farms.”

Logisticus’ Technology Solutions division creates customized software for wind developers and manufacturers. The system’s dashboard allows clients to see real-time project data and metrics.

Approaching a Project

Projects may be complex, but Patel said Logisticus’ initial approach to them isn’t.

“We follow a fairly simple Six Sigma type of process where we go in first to see exactly what we’re looking at,” he said. “We assess the specifications, what our thresholds are, and what resources are required.”

The actual planning phase involves going out to physically understand how all the components can move from point A to point B, according to Patel.

“Once we’ve determined a route, we work with both state and local authorities to help them understand what kind of an impact it’s going to have on essential roadways and to get their feedback on how we can most successfully move this without a negative impact,” he said. The execution stage comes next.

“We use a lot of technology in the form of computer-assisted software that we build in-house, including GPS units, to ensure the most

real-time data and information is available to all stakeholders,” Patel said. “We’re trying to minimize the use of phone calls and emails through the relay of real-time information. Once we put those systems in place and start the execution process, it’s execute and measure, execute and measure. The big takeaway is to try to understand potential pitfalls, so in enacting real-time changes, we can minimize the project getting off track and look at leading trends that may indicate whether problems may arise.”

The Route Feasibility team does a full analysis of the potential delivery routes, providing clients with detailed reports that cover all risks or considerations for getting components safely to the project site.

Specialized Tech

That technology is essential in making sure a project goes smoothly, and Patel said that is a specialty of Logisticus.

“As part of Logisticus, we have a company called Logisticus Technology Solutions, where we specialize in building 100 percent customized software solutions that are contoured and created for each individual project,” he said.

Demands can differ from customer to customer and from project to project, so Logisticus takes that spectrum and crafts software to meet specific needs.

“We try to build systems that don’t have any unnecessary clicks or fields that don’t pertain to the project, and ensure that the system is turning around and providing a dashboard with KPIs and GPS data that’s valuable to our customers,” Patel said. “We have coders in house that literally build everything from the ground up. So we sit down with customers and try to understand what they are looking for and what information is important to them. And that turns into our blueprint, and the coders go to work building the software.”

Taking Notice

And Patel said the industry is starting to take notice of what Logisticus can offer.

“Customers have started to really see the value in using Logisticus when certain needs or services don’t necessarily fit well into any specific bucket,” he said. “We really pride ourselves in being able to take a need, understand it, put a process around it, and then operationalize and measure the data.  We create unique solutions that are very transparent. That’s not something that everybody necessarily does.”

A growing industry need is in the transportation of transformers that take power and put it on the grid.

When these transformers are damaged by lightning, they must be replaced as quickly as possible in order to keep the power flowing.

Typically, it can take six to eight weeks to get a new transformer to its final location. That turnaround often includes Department of Transportation permits and other issues.

“We’ve been able to drive that lead time down to as little as one to two weeks,” Patel said.

And depending on the location, that reduction in delivery time can translate into millions of dollars saved for the customer, according to Patel.

Young Company

Logisticus is a fairly young company, having started in 2012 by a group who worked with General Electric in its wind-energy division.

“We’re pretty unique in the market in that we’re all pretty young,” Patel said. “We are probably the youngest entrepreneurs in the logistics market for wind.”

But Patel said that youthfulness can be an attribute in wind.

“I feel like our youth allows us to more easily adopt technology to what has been a fairly traditional market, which has had little technological change over the past 30 or 40 years,” he said. “We really are proud of not just growing ourselves, but growing with an industry that’s moving at a pretty fast pace.”

Logisticus will be at AWEA’s WINDPOWER 2017 in Anaheim, California, and Patel said he hopes people will check them out and see what the company has to offer.

“We’ll be featuring a lot of information about our new services, such as our rail division, drone and aerial mapping capabilities, and government planning that we really want our customers to come and ask about,” he said.

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