In my experience, it’s always good to bring a little levity to the workplace. We’ll share funny stories, play the occasional practical joke, and offer thorough critiques of each other’s wardrobes. As one colleague likes to say: “No one is immune!” All in all, it’s just good-natured ribbing… until someone takes it just a little too far, crossing the border that separates playful teasing from demoralizing insults. Considering the industry we serve, our conversations, stories, and joking will naturally migrate toward wind energy. One of our longstanding targets has been U.S. offshore wind has been the butt of more than its share of jokes and ribbing at the hands of Wind Systems’ panel of comic geniuses. Among our targets, none have been the butt of as many cracks, knocks, and one-liners as the U.S. offshore wind segment. Like members of a middle school “cool kid” clique, who go out of their way to humiliate and terrorize a mousy, spectacle-clad young girl, we would pounce on any opportunity to entertain ourselves at offshore’s expense. But the in-crowd’s jokes weren’t funny back then — at least not in the opinion of the object of their torment. She couldn’t understand what reason they had for being so cruel. Chances were, the bullies didn’t know either. We didn’t. Our jabs were eerily similar to the clique’s — based on ignorance and our own perceptions. U.S. offshore wind? Soooo weird! Offshore will never amount to anything. Just… look… Ugh! (In our defense, the only model we had for comparison was European Offshore Wind, who was in her early twenties and much more… ahem… developed.) Our minds were made up. But we forgot to consider the plot-twist from our classic Hollywood storyline: The weird girl grows up. Fast-forward to now, and U.S. offshore wind is breaking through her awkward phase and starting to mature. Currently — as you’ll read in this issue of Wind Systems — more than a dozen U.S. offshore wind projects — representing almost 5 GW of planned capacity — are steadily moving through the development process. Before we know it, offshore will be turning heads left and right, drawing the attention and affection of countless suitors. When that time comes, I have no doubt my colleagues and I will turn to each other with awestruck faces, realizing we made the same mistake as the cool kids: We refused to dig deeper and recognize the hidden potential. But I don’t think the industry will hold it against us. Thanks for reading,
October 2014
European Offshore Wind Power: A World Leader
Wind turbines have been turning in European seas since 1991, when the first offshore turbines were grid connected off the coast of Denmark. That was 23 years ago, and since then incredible progress has been made across the continent. At the end of June 2014, 7,343 MW of offshore wind power capacity was providing power to Europe — spread across 73 wind farms (with a total of 2,304 turbines) in 11 countries, capable of producing 27 TWh of electricity. That’s enough to meet the needs of over seven million households — or the entire population of the Netherlands.
Offshore wind is one of Europe’s fastest growing maritime sectors — by 2020 offshore wind could total 27.8 GW, meeting 3.5 percent of EU electricity demand or 102.2 TWh. The sector’s clear advantages of stronger, more consistent winds blowing at sea, and the fact that it does not put pressure on onshore sites — will continue to propel its growth, but the path to strong growth is not obstacle free.
Present State
In recent years wind energy in Europe has been buffeted by the economic crisis. According to The European Wind Energy Association’s latest statistics published this summer, during the first half of 2014 European offshore experienced a relative slow-down — new offshore capacity installations were down 25 percent compared to the same period the previous year. From January to July, 224 wind turbines were fully grid connected in the UK, Belgium, and Germany; 233 foundations were installed in 13 wind farms in Germany, the UK and Belgium; and 282 turbines were installed in eight wind farms in the same three countries. Meanwhile, preparatory work started at the 600 MW Gemini wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands.
The sector’s contraction may well continue into 2015 and 2016, depending on the outcome of political negotiations at EU level on climate and energy legislation for 2030. The EU is currently in the throes of setting a new agenda for Europe’s climate and energy policy, following on from Europe’s ambitious and legally-binding target of meeting 20 percent of the continent’s energy needs with renewable energy by 2020.
In order to ensure that healthy growth continues in the latter part of this decade, and to ensure that offshore wind energy plays its role in meeting the EU’s competitiveness, security, renewable and climate objectives, the industry needs longer-term visibility. An ambitious deal on the climate and renewable energy targets for 2030 — set to be agreed this October by EU Heads of State — would send a strong and positive signal of confidence to investors.
Needs for 2030
2020, the expiry date of the current EU renewable energy target, is just five years away. And yet, the EU wind energy sector would benefit from policy certainty that stretches way into the future. EWEA believes that Europe needs a strong target of at least 30 percent renewable energy by 2030 — and that that target should be legally binding at national level.
Offshore wind energy is an industry that creates jobs, reduces fossil fuel imports and one in which Europe is a world leader with huge export opportunities. The offshore wind sector currently employs 78,211 people, and this is expected to rise to 119,029 in 2020, according to the European Wind Energy Association’s figures. When it comes to setting an economically and environmentally ambitious agenda for Europe, we hope that EU leaders will think in the same forward-looking direction that the offshore sector is travelling in. Sidebar
But it’s not just political certainty that will move the sector into the future. The costs of offshore technologies need to become more competitive — and considerable investment in research and development in turbines, supply chains, grids, operations and maintenance is needed to help achieve cost reductions. Improved wind forecasting methods could also help make offshore wind farm development cheaper. Bringing down the costs of offshore wind power — and getting the industry to work together — will be a central tenet of the EWEA OFFSHORE 2015 conference to be held in Copenhagen next spring.
Financing Challenge
While political uncertainty is probably the greatest challenge facing offshore wind energy, there is yet another factor. The European offshore wind energy industry needs to attract between €50 billion and €69 billion over the next seven years to meet a target of 25 GW of offshore wind power.
On a European level, funding has been available. Power producers have so far been the main investors in offshore wind using their balance sheets. As the scale of investment grows, new entrants are becoming active in different aspects of project development. Engineering, procurement construction and installation companies, wind turbine manufacturers, oil and gas companies and corporate investors are already investing in offshore wind.
Moreover, innovative funding structures are now being used. The role of development banks and Export Credit Agencies has also been significant in attracting commercial lenders to the sector.
A Driving Force
Offshore wind energy in Europe is generally said to be 10-15 years behind its onshore counterpart. But, if it can overcome the political, economic, and financial obstacles, it can mirror the success of onshore wind power. Offshore wind can cut our dependence on fossil fuels, provide clean power and create sustainable jobs, together with onshore wind energy. Moreover, offshore wind has the power to turn-around areas in decline across Europe — especially those where shipbuilding was once a major employer.
Offshore wind is developing fast – at this moment in time the mass rollout of the next generation of offshore wind turbines is beginning to take place. And yet, the sector’s growth in the coming years hinges on the level of ambition that will be set by the EU’s leaders in the 2030 climate and energy package this autumn. Europe’s decision-makers need to capitalize on Europe’s first mover advantage and maintain the offshore wind momentum.
Next year, EWEA will host EWEA OFFSHORE 2015 in Copenhagen. Running from March 10–12, the event is set to attract thousands of offshore wind energy players from Europe and beyond. The buzz topic is set to center on how the offshore wind industry can think bigger on reducing the costs of wind energy across the entire supply chain. Meanwhile, the huge exhibition halls of the Bella Center will showcase the latest developments in the industry, and the 24 conference sessions will debate the very latest issues affecting the sector.
For more information, visit www.ewea.org/offshore2015.
Summer Offshore Progress Heats Up Leading Into Offshore WINDPOWER 2014
Every year, fall seems to be a good time to take inventory on progress in the offshore segment of the U.S. wind energy industry. That’s largely because the approaching end of the year (always a popular time to look back) coincides with the American Wind Energy Association’s annual Offshore WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition. Offshore WINDPOWER 2014 takes place Oct. 7-8 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
While steady progress has been made throughout 2014, the immediate run-up to U.S. offshore wind energy’s marquis event of the year has included a flurry of activity in the offshore arena. Let’s take a look at what’s taken place just in the last few months for an industry segment that has yet to start construction on its first project here in the U.S. but is clearly getting closer to doing so.
Block Island Gets Final Federal Approval
Last month offshore wind energy developer Deepwater Wind received a key federal approval needed to build its Block Island Wind Farm, a 30 MW project that’s among those in the most advanced stages of development in the U.S.
Granting the approval for the project, which is to be located off the Rhode Island coast three miles from Block Island, was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lead federal permitting agency for the wind farm.
Earlier this year, Deepwater selected Alstom as the project’s turbine supplier and long-term maintenance and service provider, and received delivery of the project’s 15 wind turbine blades from the turbine manufacturer.
Offshore construction is expected to begin next summer, with the wind farm slated to go online in 2016, according to Deepwater.
Maryland Lease Auction Winner
In August the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that U.S. Wind Inc., a unit of Italy’s Renexia, is the provisional winner of the auction for Maryland’s offshore wind lease areas. U.S. Wind’s winning bid of approximately $8.7 million for both lease areas came after 19 rounds of bidding. In addition to U.S. Wind, SCS Maryland and Green Sail Energy also participated.
Following completion of a 30-day anti-trust review of the auction by the Department of Justice, U.S. Wind has a preliminary term of one year in which to submit a site assessment plan to BOEM for approval. U.S. Wind will have up to four and a half years following that approval in which to submit a construction and operations plan for another approval.
The Maryland lease auction follows two similar federal auctions in 2013—one for a development area off the coast of Virginia and another for an area off Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
More Lease Auctions Planned
DOI and BOEM are still not finished with offshore lease auctions. In June, DOI, BOEM and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced plans to auction 742,000 acres offshore of Massachusetts for wind energy development. The proposed area is the largest in federal waters and will nearly double the area available for offshore wind energy projects in the U.S.
The following month, in July, DOI and BOEM announced plans to auction 344,000 acres offshore of New Jersey for wind energy development. BOEM proposes to auction the area as two leases: the South Lease Area (160,480 acres) and the North Lease Area (183,353 acres).
DOE Innovative Offshore Wind Energy Project Winners
DOE took the occasion of AWEA’s WINDPOWER 2014 Conference & Exhibition in May to make another significant announcement, unveiling the three winning offshore projects for Phase 2 of its Advanced Technology Demonstration Project Initiative.
The winners, chosen from a group of seven projects that comprised the initial phase of the program, are now eligible to receive up to an additional $46.7 million each to advance their projects, all of which are focused on next-generation offshore technology ranging from floating turbines to twisted jacket foundations. The winners include projects from Dominion Virginia Power, Fishermen’s Energy of New Jersey, and Principle Power of Washington. All three projects use direct-drive turbines.
Offshore Wind Foundations: Research Needs And Innovation Opportunities
“The U.S. offshore wind industry should adopt transformative design solutions for fixed foundations that build infrastructure resilience to domestic hazards, such as hurricanes, while minimizing the manufacturing, deployment and operational cost.”
This was the overarching theme that emerged from a recent workshop on Research Priorities for Offshore Wind Foundations, sponsored by the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute May 22, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. The goal of the workshop was to promote discussion and develop consensus between academia, industry and funding agencies on two basic questions: are international standards appropriate for the design of offshore wind fixed foundations in the U.S., and if not, what are the research and development initiatives that, if pursued in this realm, can have significant impact on the growth of the domestic offshore wind industry?
Despite the diversity of expertise and interests reflected in the presentations, invited participants, representing industry, academia, and funding organizations from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Denmark, unanimously recognized that although regulations are in place for the first generation of U.S. offshore wind farms, novel design concepts targeting cost reduction are necessary to establish offshore wind as a competitive resource in the U.S. energy market. To that end, advancing our technical understanding in the realm of seabed-foundation interaction, and accordingly refining design regulations, is an important step.
The need for design refinements can be traced back to the fundamental goal of design standards, which is to ensure that resistance is larger than the applied loads. The offshore wind industry, however, whose towers differ substantially from oil platforms in terms of loads and resistance, has adopted foundation design protocols of oil and gas installations but has selectively addressed only some of the characteristic differences of the two industries, and what’s more, has done so independently of each other. This has led to offshore wind foundation standards that lack an overall design philosophy, and have large built-in uncertainties in the characterization of loads and resistance — wind speed, wave height, wave kinematics and slam forces, steel and soil stiffness and strength, and soil-foundation interaction — uncertainties that are, in fact, disproportionately larger than the narrow window of performance requirements of offshore wind installations.
One could argue here that uncertainties notwithstanding, these standards have been successfully implemented and tested by the wind industry in Europe for 20 years. Still, long-term data on the performance of Europe’s offshore wind installations is lacking. European installations are also founded on shallower waters and often-stiffer soils, and are not designed to withstand the impulsive gusts, and breaking and slamming wave forces, characteristic of U.S. hurricanes. At the same time, the opportunities to learn from failure case studies of operating wind farms in Europe are limited, since such data are almost always proprietary. Still, published data from experimental farms have shown significant variation in the design and performance of installed towers. For example, in 1994, when one of two instrumented turbines of the offshore farm Lely in the Netherlands showed 35 percent error in the estimated eigenfrequencies compared to measurements, the source of error was traced back to code deficiencies in soil characterization and in foundation design. Although standards have advanced since, not least because of the experience gained through instrumentation of offshore installations, regulations that have so far worked in Europe are not guaranteed to work for the site conditions and environmental loading of U.S. installations.
When asked to identify pressing needs in research and development, the workshop participants identified challenges relating to the foundation geometry: offshore wind foundation dimensions exceed the experience range of the oil and gas industry, and extrapolating current practice to larger sizes could introduce unintended effects. Unresolved issues were also identified in the realm of resistance to serviceability loads: the behavior and possible degradation of soil strength under millions of cycles of combined dynamic loading from the wind turbine and waves is not well described in the current standards. How does the soil-foundation-tower system behave when subjected to millions of loading cycles? Does it stabilize or fail, and what are the parameters that determine the performance regime in each case? The issue of extreme load characterization was also prominently featured: extreme loads from breaking waves are shown to frequently drive the overall design, and should thus be explicitly accounted for in U.S. design standards through appropriate load factors for severity and recurrence, equivalent to the design standards of API in the Gulf of Mexico. Lastly, research needs in site characterization were identified, calling for standardized procedures that will enable spatial variability of soil properties to be quantified and accounted for in design.
The list of research needs and priorities serves as a reminder that as the industry evolves, greater efforts should be prioritized to refine foundation design models for U.S. offshore wind installations. Addressing the challenges identified through systematic and constructive research will improve characterization of loading and resistance uncertainties, which will, in turn, enable the industry to develop performance standards focused on reducing the associated risk. Although these efforts will help building infrastructure resilience, however, they will not alone reduce cost drastically enough to impact the competitiveness of offshore wind in the U.S. energy market. Drastic cost reduction will likely require a paradigm shift in the logistics of U.S. offshore wind, from one-off fabrication to high volume manufacturing procedures, which include high volume chains, standardized on-site manufacturing, availability of jack-ups and installation vessels, along with the associated changes in harbor capacities. As engineers, we tend to rely heavily on established standards. To that end, the most important take-home message of the workshop was that in the realm of offshore wind foundations, diverging from the status quo and the path of regulatory least resistance, and supporting research, experiments and pilots while moving forward with deployment, can help develop a new path forward for the industry.
This article summarizes the collective thoughts of a large group of individuals: Domniki Asimaki and Kevin Haas from Georgia Tech, organizers of the workshop; Giovanna Biscontin from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Brent Cooper from Ocean and Coastal Consultants, Charleston, South Carolina; Dan Dolan from MMI Engineering; Will Hobbs from Southern Company, Atlanta, Georgia; Kerstin Lesny from University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Torben Lorentzen from FORCE Technology, Copenhagen, Denmark; to Mary Hallisey Hunt from Georgia Tech; Ralph Nichols from the Savannah River National Laboratory; Daniel O’Connell from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Brian O’Hara from the Southeastern Coastal Wind Coalition, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Glenn Rix, Geosyntec Consultants. Support for the workshop was provided by the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute; the organizers are very grateful for the leadership of the institute’s director Timothy Lieuwen and for the funding opportunity that made this workshop possible.
— Source: EDF EN Canada
Report: U.S. Offshore Wind Market Gaining Traction
The Energy Department has released a report showing progress for the U.S. offshore wind energy market over the past year, including two projects that have moved into the initial stages of construction, and 14 projects that are in the advanced stages of development– together representing nearly 4,900 MW of potential offshore wind energy capacity for the United States. Further, this year’s report highlights global trends toward building offshore turbines in deeper waters, using larger, more efficient turbines, increasing the amount of electricity that can be delivered to consumers.
This year’s U.S. Offshore Wind Market and Economic Analysis, produced by the Navigant Consulting, builds on past reports by providing additional information on offshore wind’s potential to increase U.S. electricity capacity, create jobs, and outlines policy developments that are influencing the offshore wind market. This report, along with the Energy Department’s ongoing offshore wind research and development (R&D) efforts, and recently announced advanced technology demonstration projects, are part of the Energy Department’s national offshore wind strategy that supports the development of a suite of tools and advanced engineering prototypes that will assist offshore wind project developers and industry stakeholders.
The report’s key findings include:
• Fourteen U.S. projects, representing approximately 4.9 GW of potential capacity, can now be considered in advanced stages of development, meaning they have either been awarded a lease, conducted baseline or geophysical studies, or obtained a power purchase agreement. The report: Two of the United States’ most advanced projects — Cape Wind and Deepwater’s Block Island project — have moved into their initial stages of construction.
• Three of these advanced stage projects — Fishermen’s Energy, Dominion, and Principle Power — were selected to receive up to $46.7 million each from the Energy Department for the final design and construction of their Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects off New Jersey, Virginia and Oregon. These projects will demonstrate the use of innovative foundations and advanced turbines that will provide valuable cost and technical data to the offshore wind community.
• Globally, offshore wind projects continue to trend farther from shore into increasingly deeper waters while increased turbine sizes and hub heights have contributed to higher reported capacity factors.
• Globally, the average capital cost for offshore wind projects completed in 2013 fell 3.7 percent per kWh from 2012, with an additional decrease expected in 2014, while total project installation costs have fallen 6 percent since 2011.
• The shift to more distant locations and larger capacity turbines, along with the goal of reducing tower top mass, has driven continued innovation in drivetrain configurations, with an increase in the deployment of direct-drive and medium-speed drivetrains expected to accompany the deployment of the next generation of 5 to 8 MW turbines.
• The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has continued to make steady progress on its initiative to facilitate siting, leasing and construction of offshore wind energy projects on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. In 2014, BOEM announced additional competitive lease sales for renewable energy off Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey.
Research Buoys To Gather Vital Data At Offshore Demo Sites
Two massive, 20,000-pound buoys decked out with the latest in meteorological and oceanographic equipment will enable more accurate predictions of the power-producing potential of winds that blow off U.S. shores.
The bright yellow buoys — each worth $1.3 million — are being commissioned by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state’s Sequim Bay. Starting in November, they will be deployed for up to a year at two offshore wind demonstration projects: one near Coos Bay, Oregon, and another near Virginia Beach, Virginia. Figure 1
“We know offshore winds are powerful, but these buoys will allow us to better understand exactly how strong they really are at the heights of wind turbines,” said PNNL atmospheric scientist Will Shaw. “Data provided by the buoys will give us a much clearer picture of how much power can be generated at specific sites along the American coastline — and enable us to generate that clean, renewable power sooner.”
Offshore wind is a new frontier for U.S. renewable energy developers. There’s tremendous power-producing potential, but limited information is available about ocean-based wind resources. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy purchased the buoys to improve offshore turbine performance in the near term and reduce barriers to private investment in large-scale offshore wind energy development in the long term. The buoys were manufactured by AXYS Technologies, Inc., in Sidney, British Columbia. Figure 2
A recent report estimated the U.S. could power nearly 17 million homes by generating more than 54 GW of offshore wind energy, but more information is needed. Instruments have long been sent out to sea to measure winds on the ocean’s surface, but the blade tips of offshore wind turbines can reach up to 600 feet above the surface, where winds can behave very differently.
The buoys carry a bevy of advanced instruments, including devices called lidar, which is short for light detection and ranging, to measure wind speed and direction at multiple heights above the ocean. Other onboard instruments will record air and sea surface temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wave height and period, and water conductivity. Subsurface ocean currents will also be measured with acoustic Doppler sensors. Figure 3
All of these measurements will help scientists and developers better understand air-sea interactions and their impact on how much wind energy a turbine could capture at particular offshore sites. The data will also help validate the wind predictions derived from computer models, which have thus far relied on extremely limited real-world information.
PNNL is operating and managing the buoys for DOE. Researchers working from PNNL’s Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Washington, will conduct initial tests on the custom-made buoys in Sequim Bay and near the Dungeness Spit along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a channel of water between Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula and British Columbia’s Vancouver island.
— Source: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Offshore Wind Forecast To Reach 40 GW Globally By 2020
With more countries utilizing offshore wind potential, the global offshore wind power market is expected to increase more than fivefold from 7.1 GW in 2013 to 39.9 GW by 2020, representing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28 percent, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.
The company’s latest report states that the global offshore wind energy space registered substantial growth between 2006 and 2013, rising from 0.9 GW in 2006 to 7.1 GW in 2013, at a higher CAGR of 33.9 percent. Of this, 1.6 GW came online in 2013, driven mainly by the UK, Germany, Denmark and Belgium.
Offshore wind is now expected to become one of the largest renewable power market segments by 2020. The UK, Germany and China will contribute significantly towards this, thanks to a number of projects currently in the planning and construction stages.
“Offshore wind power is increasingly being explored for its high yield, due to stronger and more consistent winds compared to onshore, and the scope that this provides for the construction of large-scale projects,” said Swati Singh, GlobalData’s analyst covering power generation. “An additional benefit is the fact that future offshore wind power technology development will ensure a decline in the average cost per megawatt, although overall project costs are expected to rise in countries with wind farms planned in deeper water and further from the shore.”
According to Singh, the main obstacles that will hinder market growth are environmental concerns, as well as the lack of skilled personnel and sophisticated technology catering to offshore requirements.
“Despite these barriers, GlobalData expects offshore wind’s share in the global wind power market to climb from 2.2 percent in 2013 to 6.1 percent by 2020, as more countries eye the advantages of this renewable energy technology,” the analyst concludes.
— Source: GlobalData
Siemens To Perform Grid Connection And Supply Turbines For Dudgeon Offshore Project In The UK
Siemens has received an order for the turnkey delivery of the grid connection for the Dudgeon offshore wind farm. The customers are the Norwegian utilities Statoil and Statkraft, which are jointly implementing the wind farm off the coast of the UK. Siemens will supply the entire power transmission system, including the two transformer substations — one onshore and one offshore — for the 402-MW project. Siemens had previously received an order in August to deliver 67 wind turbines in the new 6-MW class as well as to maintain the wind farm. The grid connection is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016, and the installation of the wind turbines is expected to begin in early 2017. With a transmission capacity of 402 MW, Dudgeon will supply climate-friendly energy for over 410,000 British homes.
“This order marks a milestone for us. Dudgeon will be our tenth grid connection project using AC technology,” says Tim Dawidowsky, CEO of the Transmission Solutions Business Unit within Siemens’ Power Transmission Division. “To date, we have installed nine connections using AC technology with a total transmission capacity of more than three gigawatts, transporting enough electricity to supply three million households with wind power. As a result, we have established ourselves as the clear market leader not only in offshore wind turbines but also in grid connections.” Siemens is also installing five DC grid connections with cable lengths of up to 200 kilometers off the coast of Germany in the North Sea. This technology ensures efficient power transmission in wind farms situated at a great distance from the shore. The Dudgeon wind project is being build 32 kilometers north of Cromer, a city in the north of Norfolk County. The cable run extends 42 km offshore and another 47 km onshore.
The scope of supply for the grid connection covers all necessary components, such as the offshore transformer substations which convert the wind power to 132 kilovolts (kV), as well as the onshore station which converts the electricity into 400 kV for feeding into the transmission grid.
— Source: Siemens
DNV GL And Partners Issue Recommended Practice For Offshore HVDC Projects
DNV GL, together with STRI (the Swedish Transmission Research Institute) and ten industry players developed a methodology for technology qualification of offshore HVDC technologies through a joint industry project.
As offshore wind farms are being built farther from the coast and more offshore oil and gas installations are powered from shore, there will be an increasing need for long-distance underwater power transmission in the years to come.
Use of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission allows power transmission through cables over longer distances and higher capacities compared to what is feasible when using AC transmission, and will hence often be the preferred solution for long-distance power underwater transmission.
However, to date operational experiences with offshore HVDC transmission technologies are very limited and there is a lack of relevant standards, guidelines and recommendations for stakeholders to rely on. The immature nature of offshore HVDC technologies causes uncertainties and increased risk exposure for stakeholders and makes the projects complicated and costly.
As a means to manage the technology risks associated with offshore HVDC transmission projects, DNV GL and STRI have developed a recommended practice on technology qualification of offshore HVDC technologies through a joint industry project with ten industry players. The new recommended practice is based on DNV GL’s methodology for technology qualification, which has been used extensively for managing technology risks in the oil and gas industry for more than a decade.
Technology qualification is a method for providing evidence that technical equipment will function within specified operational limits with an acceptable level of confidence, both for suppliers and buyers of the relevant equipment.
In order to accurately incorporate feedback from all major stakeholders during the testing process, this Joint Industry Project partnered with major industry players including: ABB, Alstom Grid, DONG Energy, Elia, Europacable, Scottish Power, Statkraft, Statnett, Statoil, Svenska Kraftnät and Vattenfall.
— Source: DNV GL
Duke Energy To Build Fifth Phase Of Los Vientos Project In Texas
Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke Energy, recently announced it will build, own and operate a 110 MW wind power project, Los Vientos V, in Starr County, Texas.
Garland Power & Light, Greenville Electric Utility System and Bryan Texas Utilities (BTU) have signed 25-year agreements to purchase the power produced by the project.
“We’re proud to be partnering with these progressive utilities to make renewable energy more widely available to their customers,” said Duke Energy Renewables President Greg Wolf. “One of the key advantages of our Los Vientos projects is they generate the majority of their power during the day, when customer demand is greatest.” Figure 1
“We are pleased to have contracted with Duke Energy Renewables for additional wind power for our customers,” said Jeff Janke, senior managing director of Garland Power & Light. “This coastal wind will help diversify our power supply portfolio.”
With an expected completion date in late 2015, Los Vientos V will produce enough emissions-free electricity to power about 33,000 homes.
“During our assessment of long-term generation resource needs, we have found a good fit with Duke’s Los Vientos V wind project,” said BTU Board of Directors Chairman Carl Benner. “It will be an important component of our energy portfolio and provide BTU customers with affordable, predictable pricing for the next quarter century.” Figure 2
“We couldn’t have done it without the foresight of the leaders, landowners and people of Starr County,” said Milton Howard, Duke Energy Renewables executive, renewables development. “Thanks to them, we will be bringing significant construction jobs to the area, boosting economic development and supporting the local school district through dependable tax revenue for years to come.”
Vestas will supply 55 2-MW turbines for the project.
Once completed, Los Vientos III and IV — announced last year — and Los Vientos V will bring Duke Energy’s total wind-generated capacity to more than 2,100 MW, which firmly establishes Duke Energy Renewables in the top 10 for wind production in the country.
— Source: Duke Energy
DOE Funds Four Wind R&D Projects To The Tune Of $4.5 Million
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced $4.5 million for four projects to help increase deployment of innovative wind power technologies by optimizing the operation, boosting efficiency, and improving the environmental performance of wind energy systems.
The research and development (R&D) projects, located in Maine, North Carolina, Nebraska, and Texas, contribute to the Energy Department’s effort to advance innovative technologies that reduce carbon emissions and support the Obama administration’s goal to double renewable energy again by 2020. These projects will pursue R&D not significantly represented in our current portfolio as a way to support and explore innovative new approaches for integration into our future program plans.
• Biodiversity Research Institute of Gorham, Maine, will receive $1.1 million to develop a stereo-optic camera system to detect and document bird and bat flight behavior in the vicinity of wind turbines. This system will use near-infrared cameras and specialized software to detect animal movements throughout the day and night, and will work to automate the identification of different species of birds and bats. The project will help researchers better understand potential environmental impacts of wind turbines.
• Texas Tech University in Lubbock will receive $1.4 million to develop a first-of-its-kind, radar-based prototype to measure the flow of wind through wind farms, which will increase data availability and lead to improved modeling. While radar platforms have been used extensively in meteorological applications, this will be the first radar system specifically designed for wind energy research. This new design for a modular and portable system will require less power to operate and be able to measure larger areas than currently utilized conventional radar systems. The project complements the Energy Department’s ongoing Atmosphere to Electrons (A2e) Initiative, which aims to improve wind plant performance by increasing understanding of how wind moves throughout wind farms.
• The University of North Carolina at Charlotte will receive $500,000 to design and build a 30-kilowatt multistage magnetic gearbox, which will be validated for reliability, efficiency, and its potential to operate more quietly than currently available generators. The project will demonstrate that a magnetically geared generator has the potential to improve the reliability and efficiency of wind turbines.
• The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will receive $1.5 million to develop an online health monitoring system that uses the electric current signals produced by a turbine’s generator in order to track the generator’s performance and help determine when it needs to be repaired. This technology could reduce operating costs by decreasing unscheduled downtime due to unplanned maintenance.
EDF Renewable Services And Romax Align For Technical And Engineering Services
EDF Renewable Services (EDF RS) and Romax Technology have signed a partnership agreement whereby EDF RS will provide labor specialists for Romax’s technical and engineering services.
By combining Romax’s deep technical knowledge in drivetrain design, turbine reliability and independent engineering with EDF Renewable Services expert field technicians and years of experience, the companies together will provide greater value to their customers by rapidly deploying technicians and reducing costs.
Romax regularly supports most of the top 20 wind owner/operators in the U.S. with a focus on building technology in its Romax InSight division to improve turbine reliability and better manage the costs of failure, through monitoring, predictive maintenance, life extension, failure analysis, inspections, and related services. By working closely with EDF RS, the firm is able to faster scale its InSight technology to reduce the cost of energy for the industry.
Ashley Crowther, Group VP from Romax InSight discusses the relationship: “After running many projects with EDF RS, such as portable vibration, inspections and on-turbine engineering, it was clear they were the right partner. EDF RS brings depth of experience along with very capable technician and technology teams. By jointly supporting clients on predictive and preventative maintenance activity, as well as end of warranty services, together we will bring a lot of value to our clients.”
Kurt Christensen, EDF Renewable Services Business Development Manager commented, “Partnering with Romax allows each of us to use our core competencies to create hybrid offerings. This is an excellent opportunity as both organizations have a strong presence in the Americas as well as Europe, and both organizations continue to grow with the global expansion of wind.”
EDF Renewable Services is an industry leader, providing O&M services to more than 8 gigawatts of wind, solar and biomass projects across North America. With over 25 years of experience and 450 full-time, trained and certified wind technicians employed, EDF Renewable Services has the resources and experience to optimize project availability and maximize revenues.
Effective Blade Inspection Plans Involve Advanced Planning And Method Selection
As the warmer weather is waning for most wind farms here in the U.S., the window for efficient blade repair service is quickly drawing to a close. This is because the blade repair guys don’t like to get cold and will soon be heading out to the Bahamas for an all winter party.
The main reason that blade repairs are a mostly seasonal service is because the materials used for repair are temperature sensitive. Some materials that can cure in a few hours in 80 degrees can take days to cure in temperatures below 70 degrees. Although we can help the cure along by applying heat, this process consumes more time, and as they say — time is money. This process is just not as efficient as it is in warmer weather.
So, what about blade inspections? Did you get a chance this summer to look at them all? How did you do it? Are you still unsure if the process you use is adequate? Blade inspections can be completed in many different ways, and each of these ways has its pros and cons. Let’s take some time here to discuss a variety of the most common ways blades are inspected. Remember, the main reason for blade inspections is to find problems, so you can decide what to do next — whether that is to run another season, to make repairs, or to take out of service.
Blade inspections should be happening on a continual basis with the personnel on site. To start, anyone that is near a wind turbine should be at least listening to the sounds it is making. Blades that have strange noises coming from them may be indicating that they have issues. Typically all three blades will make the same type of noise when the rotor is spinning so you have three blades to compare against each other. If one is making a different noise, then it is fair to assume that something is different and you may want to take time to further investigate.
Noises that should attract your attention are a blade whistle, or a ripping noise. A ripping noise is similar to the sound of a piece of paper being ripped. Both noises can indicate issues with the blade. Sometimes the source of the noise cannot be easily found. Other times the noise could be from a lightning strike, or simply from a torn piece of leading edge tape. While the lightning strike damage may be worth the time to repair, you may just let the torn tape go until it is worth dealing with.
Usually the first line of defense in blade inspection is your maintenance team. Again, when these personnel are near a turbine, they should be listening to the noise it makes. Additionally, if your turbine is stopped or pin wheeling, you should scan the blades with your binoculars (every truck has a set, right?).
The next cost-effective inspection is by blade-savvy teams that can come in and perform a ground-based inspection. These teams are experienced in knowing what to look for. They typically use spotting scopes or binoculars, and cameras with high-powered lenses. They first perform an inspection in the field, and then they take photos of the entire blade surface. They later review the high-resolution photos, using zoom capabilities to get a “close-up” view of the blade skin surface and inspect for damage.
Sometimes an even closer look is needed to determine suspicious points on a blade. This calls for an “on blade” inspection. There are two and a half ways to do this today. The first is by using a rope access team; secondly, using a cable-suspended basket. The “half” way is by utilizing the new drone-mounted aerial remote viewing cameras. I call this inspection method a “half” way because even though you can get right up to the damage with the drone, your physical access is still limited. You lose the ability to tap or poke at the blade surface that you have with the other methods. The drone, or quad copter, remote camera is a great example of how technology keeps helping us perform our work better. It is a great way of morphing between ground-based inspections and on-turbine inspections. These remote camera inspections are being performed by service companies, forward-thinking site technicians who own their own drone, as well as by entrepreneurs trying to make a focused business by utilizing this great new device. The only problem is, this new tool has raised the concern of the government as to whether or not they should be controlled. I think new technology always does that.
Having a team of techs on the blade is pretty expensive and is usually the last resort. But once a tech is there, he may be able to make the repair on the spot. I personally think that if I am going to put a tech on a blade, he better be able to make the repair. I feel I can get a good sense of the damage from ground-based and remote camera photos. Once the damage is found, I can determine, for the most part, if a repair is needed. Very rarely have I had to go on-blade to confirm an issue, but it has happened.
One point of the blade inspection work we should think about is the timing. Since most blade inspections require the sharing of extremely large amounts of data consisting of photos and the results of analyzing these photos. This data review takes time. From the data review we will typically get a request for more in-depth inspection or repairs. To get this additional work completed takes time, budget, and resources. Although a person can be quickly trained to inspect for blade damage, it takes time to train a person to properly access a blade and to make a repair.
Since this all takes time, and in the U.S. we are all experiencing the summer during the same time, most of us are competing for these limited blade repair resources. My recommendation is to get your scheduled inspections lined up early in the summer so that you can get the blade repair techs to your site before the colder weather hits. Otherwise you can get in line for the repair teams, potentially miss the window of repair for the warm months, and get stuck paying for inefficient repairs in the colder months… if at all.
Hopefully you were able to manage your blades well this past wind season like a pro. If not, there is always next year to improve your process and to reduce your costs. Don’t wait until summer to plan work on this.
As always work as safe as possible and work to prevent surprises.
Hydratech Opens Wind Service And Repair Center In Alabama
Hydratech Industries Wind Power has opened a state-of-the-art service and repair facility in the United States with world-class hydraulic cylinder design and manufacturing experts to service and repair hydraulic cylinders for pitch hydraulics and hydraulic braking.
With three manufacturing facilities strategically located world-wide, two research and design facilities and now a repair and service facility in the U.S., HWP has shifted to a major focus in providing a service oriented business around the needs of renewable energy technology providers, as well as to continue manufacturing components that are built to endure harsh operating conditions for this market.
The new service and repair wind power facility is strategically located at the Robertsdale, Alabama, Hydratech Industries Fluid Power manufacturing facility. Existing space adjacent to the Fluid Power plant was expanded, built out, redesigned and reconfigured to incorporate the specialized needs and equipment for wind power service and repair.
“The installation of the new facility for wind power repair in the U.S. further solidifies our commitment to global customers in the renewable energy business. We are excited to expand our global reach in this industry,” remarks Bill Vosen, General Manager of Hydratech Industries USA.
HWP service and repair facility was designed and built around the needs of existing renewable energy customers and the critical operating nature these components must perform to day in and day out. To keep the quality of work to the highest standards each component undergoes a rigorous inspection process. All aspects of the inspection and dismantling are recorded in a detailed report for ten test points including upgrading sealing systems to the newest standards, replacing or repairing damaged parts, fluid leakage checks and components. Inspection, assembly and testing are completed in positive air pressure clean rooms meeting NAS class 4 requirements for environmental cleanliness. Environmental cleanliness is essential to ensuring all fluids and seals stay clean from dirt and debris.
“Fluid cleanliness testing is crucial in all service and repair projects at our wind power facility,” explains Vosen. “Our fluid cleanliness meets ISO 4406 test standards above AWEA standards.” More than 75% of hydraulic problems can be traced back to contaminated oil. “Monitoring cleanliness is therefore the most important factor in preventing failures and getting these components back to working order,” states Vosen.
After the service, repair, assembly and testing are complete all statistics and measurements are provided to the customer in a comprehensive report. With a universal mindset, customer oriented approach and 30 years of experience, global leading providers of renewable energy technology know that they can rely on Hydratech Industries Wind Power’s team.
Sandia National Laboratories Project Eyes The Future Wind Blade Manufacturing
Sandia National Laboratories is helping makers of wind turbine blades improve the labor productivity associated with blade fabrication and finishing. This improved productivity makes domestic blades more cost competitive with blades from countries that pay workers lower wages.
The Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Initiative, a three-year $6.3 million project, brought together researchers from Sandia, Iowa State University, and TPI Composites of Scottsdale, Ariz., which operates a turbine blade factory in Newton, Iowa.
Sandia manager Daniel Laird said AMII is a collection of small, targeted projects. Of 49 proposals considered by the project committee, the 22 accepted projects included automated laying and finishing, using simulation to develop more efficient manufacturing process flows, and improved nondestructive inspection (NDI) capabilities.
The project’s goal is to make U.S. wind turbine blade manufacture economically viable in the U.S. market. In addition to taking advantage of the transportation advantage of in-country manufacture, the project sought to improve labor productivity and reduce the manufacturing time by 35 percent.
The Wind Energy Foundation found that the U.S. now has 61,946 megawatts of utility-scale wind power capacity, and utility-sized wind installations in 39 states and Puerto Rico. Though wind energy production is a vital piece of America’s total energy portfolio, high U.S. labor costs have historically made it difficult to manufacture blades in the U.S. competitively.
Building blades isn’t easy. Wind turbine blades are large and heavy, and tolerances must be within millimeters of perfection. They must withstand decades of harsh conditions and handle punishing speeds up to hundreds of miles an hour at the blade’s tip.
And right now, much of the work of making a wind turbine must be done by hand.
“Wind turbine blade manufacturing consists of a labor-intensive set of highly distributed manual operations including layup of very high volumes of material, infusion, secondary bonding and demolding for many sub-assemblies over a vast manufacturing floor area. All of these considerations make implementation of automation a challenging and expensive endeavor,” Laird said.
In one project, Sandia researcher Diane Callow created a factory logic model of the manufacturing plant, allowing researchers to look at process flows and ways to improve product velocity. This work immediately identified and quantified bottlenecks due to an overhead bridge crane. The problems were solved by developing novel, ground-based carts.
In another AMII effort, researchers coupled an engineering data software platform to a 3-D laser projection system to improve fiberglass fabric positioning.
Researchers also modeled the curing of a higher-performance spar cap, the part of the blade that carries the bending load.
Sandia senior researcher Dennis Roach led development of a reference sample library used to train those who perform nondestructive inspection of wind turbine blades.
“The NDI project improved the ability of blade manufacturers to confidently determine the quality of their product before it leaves the factory, enhancing the in-service life of the blades. Sandia not only worked to optimize the performance of conventional inspection processes but also developed advanced NDI methods to further improve the quality assurance process. A focused technology transfer aspect of AMII allowed these advanced NDI methods to begin their integration into U.S. blade manufacturing plants,” Roach said.
“The combined AMII improvements and innovations reduced the cycle time to manufacture a blade by nearly 50 percent,” Laird said.
The project is wrapping up this year with a comprehensive project report, which will be made publicly available.
Learn more about Sandia’s Wind Energy Program at the program’s website.
— Source: Sandia National Laboratories
DOE Pushes For Boost In Productivity, Efficiency, And Innovation In Clean Energy Manufacturing
The U.S. Department of Energy in September announced expansions of its Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative in support of the American manufacturing sector and a new initiative to support President Obama’s goal of doubling energy productivity by 2030. By advancing the development of innovative manufacturing technologies, investing in substantial energy efficiency upgrades at production plants across the country, and training American workers for the advanced manufacturing jobs of tomorrow, the Department of Energy is helping make America’s manufacturing sector even stronger in an intensely competitive global market.
“In part due to a dramatic increase in domestic energy production and the Obama Administration’s policies and support, the U.S. manufacturing sector has seen a resurgence in recent years, adding700,000 jobs since 2009,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “Continued smart investments in advanced manufacturing technologies, and the American workforce today, will strengthen our competitive edge for decades to come.”
ACCELERATE ENERGY PRODUCTIVITY 2030
The DOE announced a partnership with the Council on Competitiveness and the Alliance to Save Energy to launch Accelerate Energy Productivity 2030. Private sector and state and local leaders can engage in energy productivity dialogues, commit to the goal, and share best practices for capturing the economic benefits of improved energy productivity. Accelerate Energy Productivity 2030 will create a national roadmap to grow our economy while reducing our energy costs.
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz announced the partnership at DOE’s 2014 American Energy and Manufacturing Competitiveness Summit, jointly sponsored by the Council on Competitiveness.
INVESTMENT IN ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
U.S. manufacturing is more competitive than it has been in decades. Manufacturing output has increased 30 percent since the end of the recession, growing at roughly twice the pace of the economy overall, the longest period where manufacturing has outpaced U.S. economic output since 1965.
In order to accelerate American innovation and boost our competitiveness in the manufacturing technologies of the future, the Department will provide $23 million for 12 projects across the country to advance technologies aimed at helping American manufacturers dramatically increase the energy efficiency of their manufacturing facilities, lower costs and develop new manufacturing technologies. These Innovative Manufacturing Initiative project selections leverage federal investments with additional cost share from the private sector to develop leading-edge materials, tools, and techniques that will save U.S. companies money by reducing the energy or materials needed to make their products.
EFFICIENCY IN MANUFACTURING
Across the U.S., manufacturers spend more than $200 billion each year to power their plants. Through the Energy Department’s Better Plants Program, American manufacturers voluntarily commit to reduce energy intensity by about 25 percent over ten years, or an equally ambitious level for their sector. Today, the Department is welcoming the 23 newest partners to the Better Plants Program from all across the country, including leaders in industry such as General Mills, Comau Inc., General Sheet Metal Works, and Novelis.
All together, the Better Plants Partnership has grown to encompass more than 140 industrial companies, representing about 2,300 facilities and almost 11 percent of the total U.S. manufacturing energy footprint. By cutting energy waste in their factories, American manufacturers in the Better Plants Program have reported close to $1.7 billion in cumulative energy savings over the past four years.
— Source: U.S. Department of Energy
Broadwind Energy Secures $14 Million Tower Order From U.S. Wind Turbine Manufacturer
Broadwind Energy, Inc. recently announced $14 million in new tower orders from a U.S. wind turbine manufacturer. Broadwind will produce these towers in its Manitowoc, Wisconsin and Abilene, Texas facilities.
Broadwind President and CEO Peter Duprey stated, “With these orders, nearly three quarters of our tower production capacity for 2015 is sold and we expect to fill the remaining capacity before year-end. We are in discussions with customers for additional commitments into 2016 and 2017 and look forward to a decision on the Production Tax Credit after the November elections. We remain confident about the demand for wind energy assets in the U.S.”
ABB Assists In Wind Integration On Alaskan Island Microgrid
ABB, the leading power and automation group, will install its PowerStore, an integrated commercial flywheel technology to integrate with a battery system on Kodiak Island in Alaska to enable the integration of more renewable energy from an expanded wind farm to its microgrid and also to address stability challenges that will arise from a crane upgrade being undertaken to enhance its port operations. The project is being undertaken on behalf of Kodiak Electric Association, an electric cooperative owned by residents of the Island.
Kodiak Island, off Alaska’s south coast, is the second largest island in the United States. Its 15,000 residents live in just seven communities — the largest being the port town of Kodiak. KEA operates a microgrid that generates virtually all of its 28 MW of electricity capacity from hydropower and wind.
The City of Kodiak, in conjunction with Horizon Lines, recently decided to upgrade its existing crane to an electrically driven crane instead of a diesel driven one and expand its capabilities. The installation of the larger crane is expected to generate power fluctuations that can be particularly destabilizing for an isolated grid like the one on Kodiak Island. PowerStore’s dynamic response to transient events such as those expected from the new crane as well as the ability to carry out infinite charge and discharge cycles without degrading the PowerStore’s life expectancy make it an ideal fit.
“Expanding the crane operations at the port posed a challenge because it meant that we would likely have to rely more heavily on our fossil fuel-based generators,” said Darron Scott, president and chief executive officer of KEA. “Not only will the ABB solution allow us to shave the peaks off the crane loads, it will also reduce the stresses placed on our battery systems and extend their lifespans.”
ABB’s solution incorporates two 1 MW PowerStore grid stabilization generators that are based on a fast-acting, spinning flywheel with ABB inverters to store short term energy to absorb and/or inject both real and reactive power onto the microgrid. PowerStore can switch from a full-power charge to a full-power discharge in less than 5 milliseconds. Besides providing voltage and frequency support for the new crane, the PowerStore units will extend the life of the two 1.5 MW battery systems and help to manage the intermittencies from the island’s 9 MW wind farm.
“Remote locations like islands may be rich in renewable energy sources, but the intermittent nature makes their integration into the power grid a challenge,” said Claudio Facchin, head of ABB’s Power Systems business. “ABB’s innovative microgrid solution as in this case includes grid stabilization technology that enables high penetration of renewable power generation, and distributed control systems that provide intelligent power management and efficient hybrid power plant operation.”
UMaine Celebrates First Anniversary Of Its VolturnUS Floating Wind Turbine With Signing Of Further DOE Grant
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud welcomed top officials from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to Castine on September 5 to celebrate a successful year of the VolturnUS floating wind turbine deployed off Castine.
“This anniversary is another great day for our state, the university and its many partners, and for the advancement of clean, renewable energy for our nation,” said Collins. “This is a remarkable achievement and confirms my belief that the most innovative and dedicated wind energy researchers in the world are working right here in Maine.”
Michaud said the VolturnUS wind turbine is an incredible project and a great example of the type of forward-thinking ideas that can strengthen our economy in the years to come and define Maine as a leader in innovative technologies.
“The UMaine team has done incredible work to get not just VolturnUS up and running, but many other promising initiatives as well. I look forward to continuing to partner with them on advancing these projects that will strengthen Maine’s economy,” he said.
In addition, as part of the event, DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy David Danielson signed a $3.97 million cooperative research agreement with UMaine, of which is $3 million in DOE funding and $970,000 in cost share, to continue the design and engineering work of the full-scale VolturnUS floating hull.
The federal officials were joined by representatives from the University of Maine, Maine Maritime Academy and Cianbro, who discussed highlights of the yearlong deployment off the coast of Castine. VolturnUS, a one-eighth scale model of a 6-MW floating wind turbine with more than 50 sensors on board, has been successfully operating and collecting data related to design capabilities for more than a year, including throughout the Maine winter.
Among the data highlights:
• The VolturnUS 1:8 successfully withstood 18 severe storms equivalent to 50-year storms, and one 500-year storm.
• The maximum acceleration measured was less than 0.17 g for all 50- and 500-year storms, which matched numerical predictions.
• The maximum tower inclination angle measured was less than 7 degrees in all 50- and 500-year storms, and these numbers matched predictions.
The VolturnUS floating turbine is a patent-pending technology developed at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Laboratory by UMaine and Cianbro personnel. In June 2013, it became the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine deployed in the Americas, and the first floating turbine in the world designed using a concrete hull and a composites material tower to reduce costs and create local jobs. The turbine is a 1:8 geometric scale test program to prepare for the construction of a larger 6 MW floating turbine. The project brought together more than 30 organizations as part of the DeepCwind Consortium, led by UMaine and funded through a competitive DOE grant and industry contributions.
— Source: Advanced Structures & Composites Center, The University of Maine
GE Study Outlines Windâs Benefits To Grid Resiliency During Large-Scale Interruption
GE’s Energy Consulting business presented the findings of its frequency response study on wind power and grid resiliency in late August at the CIGRE Session 45 in Paris. The study, which was sponsored by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, modeled the country’s Eastern Interconnection — one of the largest electrical systems in the world — and determined that when equipped with the appropriate modern plant controls, wind applications can substantially enhance grid resiliency.
Questions about how the U.S. electrical systems would respond to a large-scale interruption of generation, such as multiple power plants tripping offline, were the catalyst for the study. An event like this could result in significantly lower frequencies on the system, customer interruptions or even large-scale blackouts.
The study explored in detail how the grid could respond to a major event and maintain its resiliency with significant wind power added to the generation mix. The conclusions of the study found that wind can be more effective than thermal generation in controlling frequency on the grid due to its ability to respond more quickly.
The study modeled a scenario where there was an instantaneous penetration of 25-percent wind generation in the Eastern Interconnection — a scenario that is an aggressive case in the eastern U.S. today. It showed that at these levels of penetration, there will be operating conditions where traditional frequency responsive resources are scarce. This is typical in systems with high levels of wind penetration.
— Source: GE
