Megger, a manufacturer and supplier of test and measurement equipment used within the electric power, building wiring, and telecommunication industries, has enhanced its KC series of test leads used with wind turbines. The new leads can be used either in a manufacturing plant or in the field for maintenance.

KC-C test leads are lightweight, making them safe for use at extreme heights, and are designed to work with Megger’s DLRO2 low resistance hand-held ohmmeter long test lead mode to measure the resistance of the lightning protection circuit of wind turbines.

Developed in conjunction with a wind turbine manufacturer, the KC-C test leads provide a solution for supplying leads that are long enough for testing the continuity of lightning protection conductors in turbines. They eliminate the time-consuming, inconvenient and unreliable process of engineers and technicians having to fabricate their own test leads.

Available in two lengths including 328 feet and 164 feet, each testing lead comes standard on a heavy-duty cable reel that is fitted with a friction brake to avoid tangles while reeling out the cable. They are rated to 10 A. Each lead set includes two test leads fitted with a duplex handspike for probing the lightning receptors on the tips of the turbine blades.

The leads are also fitted with a Kelvin clip that is designed to offer ease of use, while providing consistent connections that are needed to ensure accurate and repeatable results.

The KC-C test leads also feature hook terminations marked with C or P to ensure the right connections are made; as well as a cable guide on the cable reel to assist with orderly rewinding. These lightweight lead sets, weighing approximately 17 pounds, use a duplex connect test lead system that allows probes or clips to be changed quickly and easily on-site. When combined with the DLRO2, they have a combined weight of less than 20 pounds.

MORE INFO  us.megger.com/

Verton and The Crosby Group are expanding Verton’s load orientation technology in North America. Crosby Group,  Verton’s master distributor for the Americas, has invested in additional units for deployment in the U.S and Canada, as well as key team members to support the growing business.

The Verton range of lifting solutions includes land-based and offshore energy, construction and infrastructure, cargo handling and towing, marine, mining, and transportation.

“Verton’s remote-controlled load orientation products provide a step-change in terms of the safety and productivity of our customers’ lifting operations. Verton’s wireless products remotely orientate suspended loads without the need for taglines, using gyroscopes and sophisticated control systems, removing the need for personnel near or under loads.  The combined strengths of Verton’s product with the rich rigging heritage of The Crosby Group has allowed us to bring these benefits to job sites across the Americas,” said Robert Desel, Crosby Group CEO.

“We are thrilled to see the investment that The Crosby Group is making in support of our partnership. Verton will have a greatly increased presence in the market to bring our products to new customers and industries and to provide an increased level of support to our existing customers,” said Verton CEO Tim Ekert.

Verton is the inventor of inventor of the remote-controlled load orientation system. The company’s range of lifting products also integrates smart technology to facilitate more precise load placement, faster task turnover, and superior analysis and oversight of operations.

MORE INFO  www.verton.com.au or www.thecrosbygroup.com

Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern Energy) announced the grand opening of its Western Spirit Wind power facilities, comprised of four wind power projects located in Guadalupe, Lincoln, and Torrance Counties in central New Mexico, totaling more than 1,050 megawatts (MW) of clean power capacity, enough to meet the electricity needs of 900,000 Americans each year.

“This project is doing it all: creating good-paying jobs, providing clean power to New Mexico and beyond, and cutting emissions from the energy sector. New Mexico is leading the pack – nationally and globally – in the renewable energy space. At the state level, at the county level, at the city level, at the village level, New Mexico is all in on the economic and environmental benefits this industry provides,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Western Spirit Wind will provide clean, renewable energy to California and New Mexico. The four wind power facilities that comprise Western Spirit Wind utilize a total of 377 GE wind turbines ranging from 2.3 to 2.8 MW in size. The GE turbines utilize various tower heights to optimize the wind capture at each facility.

The wind project and accompanying transmission line involved around 1,500 workers on-site during peak construction, including heavy equipment operators, electricians, laborers, and others. More than 50 workers will operate and maintain the Western Spirit Wind facilities in New Mexico.

“The Western Spirit Transmission Line literally rewrote the energy landscape in New Mexico— allowing us to build four new utility-scale wind projects in central and eastern New Mexico that make up the largest single-phase wind project in all of North America. I was proud to support this project every step of the way,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich.

“The largest wind power project in the entire country is now producing strong benefits for the state of New Mexico, including millions of dollars in tax revenue to local counties and school districts. This is just the beginning. We have committed to $6 billion in upcoming wind energy and related infrastructure projects in New Mexico over the next decade, putting thousands of people to work. Together, we are building a cleaner and more sustainable future,” said Mike Garland, Pattern Energy CEO.

“If we’re going to make this decade one of exponential climate action, we need more than just bold goals and lofty long-term promises — we need real solutions and results today,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Bringing this state-of-the-art facility online makes it our largest wind project to date — providing clean energy for hundreds of thousands of Angelenos and bringing us one major step closer to becoming a city powered without fossil fuels,” Garcetti added.

“The energy we receive from Western Spirit will power 186,000 San José homes annually with clean, pollution-free electricity for the next 15 years,” said San José Mayor Sam Liccardo. “I’m proud that San José Clean Energy is helping invest in California’s renewable energy future so we can leave a more livable planet to future generations.”

MORE INFO   patternenergynewmexico.com

Danish machining firm CNC Onsite has developed an invention for repairing wind turbine yaw rings on site. The patented system could eliminate expensive, time-consuming disassembly of the rotor and nacelle for replacement.

The yaw ring is a crucial component in securing maximum power production from a wind turbine and is complex and costly to replace. Broken and worn teeth can leave operaturs of older wind turbines with no choice except scrapping them.

“This inspired us to develop a repair method as an alternative,” said Søren Kellenberger, Sales Director, CNC Onsite.

“We can now offer a repair service for both onshore and offshore at a fraction of the cost of replacing the entire yaw ring, and that makes it viable to keep perfectly good wind turbines operating for longer,” Kellenberger said.

The CNC Onsite method employs a portable precision tool to repair any broken or worn yaw ring teeth. Operated by a specialist engineer, the tool applies the patented method, working at extremely fine tolerances, to remove and reinsert machined teeth. The patent for the system covers the milling process by which the damaged teeth are excised, and the bed created for the new part, as well as its particular insertion method.

“The process we apply when creating new yaw ring teeth for a wind turbine is similar in principle to a new dental crown that is first copied precisely then fitted by a dentist using precision tools,” Kellenberger said. “The aim is the same, and it should last for a long time.”

The tool has been designed to break down into component parts with a low weight that allows them to be transported in the tower elevator to the work area. After reassembly in the nacelle, the compact tool can be operated in the confined working space around the yaw ring.

Repairs are carried out inside the wind turbine tower so can be completed irrespective of weather conditions.

“As long as it is safe to travel to and access the wind turbine, we can carry out the repairs. So there are far fewer days when we cannot work. This is also good for both work schedules and costings,” Kellenberger said.

Mounted at the top of the wind turbine tower, the toothed yaw ring is a gear that engages with motors mounted on the nacelle to align the rotor blades with the wind. CNC Onsite estimates that turbines on some 5 to 10 percent of wind farms will experience damage to their yaw ring teeth during their service life. Typical causes include unpredictable wind events or uneven loads sustained over time.

Replacing the yaw ring requires the entire nacelle to be detached using a crane and specialist labor – a process that is expensive for onshore turbines and perhaps uneconomic for offshore. Across the lifetime of a wind turbine, maintenance can represent up to a quarter of all costs incurred, and decisions such as choosing a cost-effective yaw ring repair versus replacement are set to become an important trend.

The system developed by CNC Onsite can usually carry out yaw ring repairs within a few days. This reduces downtime, and results in significant CO2 savings.

“We’re eliminating the need for manufacturing a new yaw ring and above all the huge logistical effort required to transport a yaw ring to the site, deploy cranes, which is particularly tricky offshore, and replace it,” Kellenberger said.

“Such an operation requires a significant number of people and a lot of equipment with all the  associated CO2 emissions. With our repair method, this is no longer required,“ Kellenberg said.

The yaw ring repair service offered by CNC Onsite has already been used on a range of turbines in wind parks, both offshore and onshore, since it entered the market in 2019 following months of endurance tests.

MORE INFO  cnconsite.dk/en/

American Clean Power Organization CEO Heather Zichal praised President Joe Biden’s March 1 State of the Union mentions about clean energy and climate change.

“President Biden’s first State of the Union address was emphatic and unmistakably clear about the urgency of rapid clean energy investment. The invasion of Ukraine reminded us that bullies like Vladimir Putin can play games with energy to hold countries hostage,” Zichal said.

“This week we also heard the world’s leading climate scientists tell us that our planet is warming at an alarming rate. The way out of both of these crises is to rapidly scale affordable, reliable clean energy everywhere. We join the President in urging Congress to take action on critical investments and tax credits for the renewable energy industry that have broad, bipartisan support. Quick action will create good jobs and allow the rapid deployment of clean energy projects in all 50 states,” Zichal added.

MORE INFO  www.cleanpower.org

TGS, a global provider of energy data, data-driven solutions and intelligence, recently announced Wind AXIOM. This unique wind data analytics platform enables offshore wind-market stakeholders to assess risks and opportunities associated with impending and future offshore wind projects.

Wind AXIOM is designed to offer interactive feasibility analysis by aggregating many critical data categories in one place and subsequently enabling comprehensive benchmarking of current and future lease rounds. Combined with interactive visualization and analysis tools, Wind AXIOM provides new and easy-to-access insights for the offshore wind market.

“In the development of this easy-to-access platform, our mission was to improve the wind-assessment experience for everyone,” said Jan Schoolmeesters, EVP of Digital Energy Solutions at TGS. “TGS has leveraged 40 years of data expertise, including that from subsidiary 4C Offshore, to help customers access multiple high-quality wind-data resources in one place, screen offshore wind projects faster, and easily compare offshore wind-lease opportunities across the globe. Wind AXIOM allows wind stakeholders to assess their potential investments and future opportunities.”

Wind AXIOM integrates and homogenizes a wide variety of data. Data types include high-resolution wind resource data, energy assessment, 4C Offshore market, regulatory and policy intelligence, environmental and marine use restrictions, bathymetry data, transmission infrastructure, and other data sources. These are analyzed together, providing early insights into the costs and risks of pursuing a particular lease area. As a result, this tool improves the quality and speed of decisions by offering a tailored experience for various participants of the offshore wind market, helping assess opportunities early and more efficiently.

MORE INFO  TGS.com/wind-axiom

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has appointed Jochen Eickholt, a member of the executive board at Siemens Energy as its Chief Executive Officer. Eickholt will take the reins at Siemens Gamesa on March 1, replacing Andreas Nauen.

“Siemens Gamesa is experiencing significant challenges in its Onshore business in a very difficult market and we have appointed an executive with a strong track record in managing complex operational situations and in successfully turning around underperforming businesses,” said Miguel Angel López, chairman of Siemen Gamesa’s board of directors. “The Board would like to thank Andreas for his considerable efforts as CEO as well as for his previous leadership of the Offshore business, which continues to lead the global market,” Lopez said.

Eickholt joined the Siemens Energy executive board in January 2020,  where he is responsible for the Power Generation and Industrial Applications businesses as well as Asia-Pacific and China. During a career with Siemens spanning more than 20 years, Eickholt has held a number of senior management positions including chief executive officer of Siemens Mobility and chairman and managing partner of the Siemens Portfolio Companies.

He studied electrical engineering at the RWTH Aachen in Germany and at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London. After receiving his engineering degree, Eickholt earned his doctorate at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology.
MORE INFO  www.siemensgamesa.com

Leosphere, a company that specializes in developing, manufacturing, and servicing turnkey wind lidar instruments for wind energy, announced that WindCube® Nacelle is the first nacelle lidar to receive full classification according to the new IEC standard for nacelle-based lidar.

Latest enhancements to the WindCube Nacelle deliver simplified lidar system and data management with the cloud-based WindCube Insights—Fleet.

Rotor Equivalent Wind Speed lidar data provides rotor-averaged wind speed, enabling more detailed analysis of most modern, large rotor turbines.

An integrated weather sensor directly mounted on the lidar provides air pressure, temperature, humidity, and rain and hail data.

MORE INFO  www.windcubelidar.com

Clir Renewables, a market intelligence platform for wind and solar, has launched a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) service. Clir M&A will help renewable energy investors gain a competitive edge by using Clir’s project performance analytics to understand project risk and asset health, enabling improved bids in accelerated timelines.

“In 2019, Elemental Energy used Clir’s data and expertise to submit a competitive bid to successfully acquire the project, as well as improve their financing and debt terms. Seeing this success, and the demand for deeper insights for bids, motivated us to develop Clir’s M&A service. With project finance in renewable infrastructure growing, we have seen a boom in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Clir’s offering of deeper intelligence during the bidding process alongside post-optimization insights will increase production, reduce costs and give clients a competitive edge,” said Clir CEO Gareth Brown.

Through Clir M&A, Clir uses advanced AI and cloud-based data processing techniques to analyze historical portfolio and site data in days, where it would typically take months. This speed to analysis, coupled with the context provided by a 200 GW global industry dataset, enables Clir to provide buyers, sellers and their advisors with greater certainty on the risk and potential of projects. Access to this deeper intelligence during the bidding process alongside ongoing insights allows clients to increase production and reduce costs.

Clir’s access to 200 GW of wind and solar data also allows investors to benchmark performance against industry standards, while gaining clarity on asset risks and asset health. This affords investors an opportunity to consider post-acquisition optimization strategies much earlier in the asset management life cycle.

Clir benchmarks data from all major OEMs, allowing bidders to measure asset and turbine performance against region, vintage and technology to ensure that the project is performing up to industry standard.

“Clir’s value is in its data. At Clir M&A, we put data at the fingertips of stakeholders,” Brown said.

MORE INFO  www.clir.eco

NRG Systems announced that Enrique Lopez Salido is the company’s new Vice President of Operations. Lopez Salido oversees the company’s manufacturing operations, integrated supply chain processes, and quality program.

“I am excited to join the NRG Systems team at such a pivotal time for both the company and the renewables industry.  As NRG’s portfolio continues to evolve and the business continues to grow, I look forward to driving the optimization of the processes needed to get their proven, high-quality products in the hands of customers so they can keep their own projects on track for success,” Lopez Salido said.

Lopez Salido has nearly 30 years of experience running and redefining global operations for a range of technology sectors, including aerospace, automotive, telecommunications, medical, and renewable energy. He most recently served as Daikin Applied Americas’ supply chain transformation lead, where he led the evolution of the company’s procurement process into an integrated supply chain; helped establish long-term commodity strategies; and assisted in achieving a year-over-year cost reduction.

“Today’s supply chain challenges are greater than ever before and Enrique’s solutions-focused mindset and considerable experience in global operations for everything from start-ups to publicly traded, billion-dollar companies are significant assets. I am confident that with Enrique on our leadership team, NRG will continue to handle any challenges that come our way, while helping us meet our growth demands in an extremely efficient and profitable way,” said NRG Systems president Evan Vogel.

MORE INFO  nrgsystems.com

James Fisher has launched James Fisher Decommissioning (JF Decom) to support customers in the renewables and oil and gas markets.

JF Decom will provide customers with a dedicated team to provide delivery in complex projects such as subsea infrastructure removal; structural removal, well severance, and well abandonment.

With one of the world’s largest fleets of decommissioning tooling and in-house design and engineering capability, JF Decom can  support the rise in decommissioning projects to deliver cost and time saving solutions critical to achieving regulatory guidance of a 35% reduction in decommissioning costs, a target mapped out by the Oil & Gas Authority in 2016.

JF Decom’s services include the well abandonment tool SEABASS that provides a cost effective and quicker alternative to rig-based solutions when abandoning category 2 wells, due to its ability to deploy from a vessel of opportunity and work in any water depth.

“JF Decom is also dedicated to ensuring that decommissioning is conducted as sustainably as possible by restoring the seabed to its natural state. With our noise attenuation tools such as Bubble Curtains we can also minimize environmental impact to marine life during decommissioning works and ensuring we provide environmentally responsible services is something that is at the forefront for JF Decom,” said Jack Davidson, JF Decom managing director.

JF Decom and  JF Renewables will be able to work independently or collaboratively to support the drive to net zero by providing full support services to the oil and gas and renewable markets in the installation, maintenance and decommissioning of assets.

MORE INFO  www.jamesfisherrenewables.com

It has been nearly two years since The Crosby Group, a global leader in lifting, rigging, and material handling hardware, completed the acquisition of Feubo, a specialist provider of offshore mooring components for the oil and gas and wind energy markets.

The purchase included Feubo’s facility in Hattingen, Germany, that has continued to serve as a center of excellence for mooring components. It is equipped to support the installation and safe operation of floating wind turbines, typically mounted on a floating structure that allows the turbine to generate electricity in water depths where fixed-foundation turbines are not suitable.

The Hattingen facility is also a focal point for key testing, engineering, and innovation, that notably led to the launch of the HFL Kenter, a high fatigue life shackle, based on the popular Crosby Feubo NDur Link.

“The floating wind industry remains relatively embryonic, and it needs product engineering and innovation partners to collaborate on products that can improve safety and reduce costs,” Mike Duncan, Business Development Manager at The Crosby Group. “The HFL Kenter for temporary mooring is just an example of how a new product can be developed and broadly deployed within an industry to achieve industry goals.”

As Duncan alluded to, the HFL Kenter is an accessory used for temporary and mobile mooring applications, such as rigging and anchoring mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs) or vessels. It represents the latest state-of-the-art evolution of a shackle concept that is more than 100 years old. Finite Element Analysis, a method of numerically solving differential equations in engineering and mathematical modelling, was used to identify stress hot spots and re-engineer the product.

“In fatigue comparison tests in simulated marine environments, we were able to show that the Kenter boasts eight times more cycles,” he said. “This has allowed us to show the floating wind sector our ability to engineer, innovate, and deliver product of high quality and proven fatigue life, for their specific, demanding applications.”

Duncan reiterated the capabilities of The Crosby Group’s center of excellence for mooring in Hattingen, Germany, which boasts static and dynamic testing machines that test mooring chains and components up to capacities of 60,000 kN, as well as fatigue testing in simulated marine environments. The facility can test and validate in real-time the fatigue life of components in association with DNV GL Type Approval Certificate, acknowledging that its equipment meets the rigorous standards of the global quality assurance and risk management company for their use offshore.

MORE INFO  www.thecrosbygroup.com

Vestas has secured a 42 MW order for the repowering project in Schleswig Holstein, Germany, with Repowering Wöhrden Poolgesellschaft GmbH & Co KG and Windkraft Looft Persenweg GmbH & Co. KG.

Vestas will supply, install, and service seven V162-6.0 MW turbines, replacing the 25 legacy turbines now powering the site, which will increase the energy output and extend the lifetime of the project site with Vestas’ EnVentus platform while reducing the number of turbines on site.

The repowering project will be serviced by Vestas under a long-term 20-year Active Output Management 4000 (AOM 4000) service agreement, providing power performance certainty and Vestas’ service expertise through the lifetime of the project.

“The repowering of the Wöhrden project is an excellent example of repowering projects driving the clean energy transition,” said Jens Kück, VP Sales Central at Vestas Northern & Central Europe. “By moving toward more advanced technology, the new project will increase the annual clean-energy output dramatically at lower cost and on the same land footprint as before. Vestas is honored to be selected to deliver our EnVentus turbines to this project. The V162-6.0 MW is a fantastic fit for projects in Northern Germany with good wind conditions. Our team is proud that we can empower the project to continue delivering clean electricity to the grid using best-in-class technology.”

Deliveries at the Wöhrden repowering project are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023, while commissioning is planned for the second quarter of 2023.

MORE INFO  www.vestas.com

ONYX Insight is partnering with Windcluster, a U.K. wind energy pioneer, to support the life extension of aging assets one of the U.K.’s oldest wind projects.

ONYX has installed ecoCMS, its condition monitoring system to monitor the four 850kW V52 wind turbines at Windcluster Haverigg III at Haverigg airfield in Cumbria. The system will help to extend the lifetime of the Haverigg III turbines through 2040.

“We chose ONYX Insight because we wanted a credible and innovative partner,” said Windcluster founder Colin Palmer. “ONYX has offered a flexible approach to enable us to maximize our investment and has already shown great value. Digitalizing our turbines during this next phase of their operational life is going to be key in ensuring they generate power at full capacity. We will be using the vibration and oil monitoring data analysis and reporting by ONYX to ensure we can extend the life of our assets to 2040. We look forward to ONYX Insight’s continued support in this endeavor.”

“We are incredibly proud to be working with the team at Windcluster to extend the life of these veteran wind turbines and to keep them producing clean renewable energy for another 19 years,” said Keiran Knowles, ONYX Insight’s U.K. and Northern Europe business development manager.

Digitalization is set to be key to wind-farm owners and operators seeking to extend the life of aging assets and develop lifetime extension strategies. Understanding a turbine’s remaining life, as well as continuously monitoring the condition of turbines in which the lifespan has been extended so interventions when faults occur can be made quickly, will be essential in maximizing the return and effectiveness of the continued operation of aging assets.

By retrofitting both vibration and oil monitoring systems to the wind turbines at Haverigg III, a complete picture of the condition of each wind turbine and its oil health will be provided. The combination of vibration and oil provides better analytics and a more complete condition of the machine health and oil health.

WindEurope estimates that across Europe, more than 34,000 turbines — representing 36 GW of capacity — are now more than 15 years old, with the designed operational lifetime of turbines generally being between 20 and 25 years, at which point repowering, life extension, or decommissioning become the choice of options for owners.

MORE INFO  www.onyxinsight.com

Mammoet has completed the load-outs of five floating wind platforms at the Navantia Fene Shipyard in Spain. The platforms will form part of the largest floating offshore wind farm in the world, Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm.

“Having worked at this quay before doing similar complex operations, it was the key factor to deliver the floating wind platforms successfully on time,” said Javier De Pablo Arenzana, Mammoet Spain sales manager. “In addition to our pool of resources and equipment, this meant we were able to offer our client a high degree of flexibility in terms of the project schedule. We believe these capabilities make us well-suited to supporting the growth of the offshore floating sector.”

Considering platform weights, the surface conditions on the quay were of paramount importance. To minimize operational risk, Mammoet prepared the quay by installing hundreds of steel plates to level the surface in places where it had previously been uneven.

Coordinating with various stakeholder groups flexibly was also required to execute each operation on schedule. This included organizing each operation to meet the appropriate tide levels and weather conditions and marrying these with the availability of the specialist seagoing vessel contractor and Navantia Fene Shipyard.

Once the quay was prepared and the specialist seagoing vessel docked, Mammoet had only a short window in which it could execute each operation. Mobilizing 100 axle lines of SPMTs split between the three columns of the triangular footprint, the floating foundation was loaded onto the three sets of SPMTs, transferred 100 meters across the quay, and transversely loaded onto the vessel using 54 meters of RoRo ramps. Mammoet completed this operation five times over several months.

MORE INFO  www.mammoet.com

Offshore energy support vessel operator Seacat Services has signed a long-term charter for catamaran Seacat Weatherly to support operations and maintenance activity for the Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Limited.

The 100-turbine, 950-MW capacity wind farm is off the coast of Fraserburgh, Scotland.

“The North Sea is a key location for the U.K.’s offshore wind industry; capitalizing on the region’s strong wind speeds is vital as the government pursues its target for all electricity to be green by 2035,” said Mark Drew, Seacat Services managing director. “At Seacat, we’ve tailored our fleet to support the build out of key offshore wind markets and are proud to be offering our best-in-class support to such important clean energy projects as those in development in Scottish waters.”

“We secured Seacat for this charter due to the reputation of its fleet for safety, reliability, and maneuverability,” said Paul Cavanaugh, Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Limited asset director. “Seacat’s fleet of Chartwell 24s routinely proves its salt across offshore sites in Scotland and the U.K.; to have a domestic provider with such a track record for delivering high quality performance in the North Sea brings clear advantages to the Moray East project. We look forward to working with them throughout the development and maintenance of the wind farm.”

Building wind farms in deeper waters farther from shore enables operators to harness greater wind speeds with fewer obstructions than on land, but trades its increased power production potential for more complex logistics. Conducting offshore technicians safely and comfortably to sites such as Moray East is critical for the continuous provision of renewable power to Scotland and the United Kingdom.

Seacat Weatherly accommodates 24 passengers and a total of 11 tons of cargo at a service speed of 26 knots.

Seacat Services operates internationally out of Cowes, U.K., with a fleet of 14 IACS classified multi-purpose offshore energy support vessels. Each vessel is purpose designed and constructed to conduct safe, fast, comfortable transport and transfer of peronnel and equipment in the toughest of marine environments.

MORE INFO  www.seacatservices.co.uk

Siemens Gamesa and Iberdrola have signed maintenance contracts totaling 1,928 MW at 69 of the energy group’s wind farms in Spain and Portugal for a period of between three and five years.

The contracts cover the service of 1,963 wind turbines with outputs of between 660 kW and 3.465 MW of unit power. With these new contracts, Siemens Gamesa consolidates its position as the main provider of operation and maintenance services for Iberdrola in the region. The agreements include new and renewed contracts.

The contracts account for about 160 employees to maintain the wind farms. Technicians are primarily based in the rural areas where the wind farms are located, so the maintenance activity helps support economic activity and employment there.

The maintenance services for these types of turbines, the oldest in Iberdrola’s fleet, are expected to significantly maximize their level of efficiency, as well as extend their useful life in the mid to long term.

“It’s a real pleasure to have reached such an important agreement with Iberdrola, not only because of the size of the deal, but also because it allows us to strengthen our partnership with one of our main customers,” said John Paul Larrañeta, CEO of Siemens Gamesa Service for Southern Europe and Africa. “With these agreements, we will go beyond the usual maintenance tasks and offer solutions that the market is increasingly demanding, such as upgrading existing turbines to increase energy production while optimizing the cost of operations and maintenance.”

Siemens Gamesa, in addition to offering operation and maintenance services, provides programs to maximize energy production, improve availability, and optimize operation and maintenance (O&M) costs over the turbine lifetime. In this regard, the agreement reached between Siemens Gamesa and Iberdrola also includes design modifications and improvements to the installed fleet during the term of the maintenance contracts, with the aim of modernizing the fleet and safely improving the energy production of the wind turbines.

After this deal, Siemens Gamesa will have 14 GW under maintenance for more than 340 customers in 12 countries in southern Europe and Africa.

MORE INFO  www.siemensgamesa.com

Vestas has introduced the V162-6.8 MW, expanding the EnVentus platform’s power output and market applicability.

Renewables are already a critical part in energy systems across the globe with continued scaling and technology development playing a key role in making renewables a dominant energy source.

“We take another step forward with the introduction of the V162-6.8 MW, reaching the next level in applicability and scalability. The V162-6.8 MW demonstrates how our modular product development enhances our ability to continuously innovate and lead the industry in developing customizable and sustainable energy solutions that meet our customers’ needs,” said Anders Nielsen, Vestas’ chief technology officer.

“Today, we are proud to introduce a wind turbine that underlines Vestas’ continued leadership within high-quality sustainable energy solutions, optimized for all project-specific conditions,” Nielsen said.

The V162-6.8 MW is globally applicable and combines an increased power rating and operational flexibility to deliver up to 7 percent annual energy production (AEP) depending on project-specific conditions. The V162-6.8 MW features flexible power ratings of 6.5 MW, 6.8 MW and 7.2 MW and expanded site applicability through an optional larger CoolerTop. The performance improvements are achieved through enhanced EnVentus powertrain and power conversion systems.

The V162-6.8 MW will benefit from enhanced transportability, as it will be based on Vestas’ new modular nacelle concept, where the nacelle structure is divided into the main nacelle house containing the powertrain and the side compartment with the power system including converter and transformer. Both nacelle compartments are dimensionally designed to correspond to general industry logistics standards for road, rail, and ocean transportation with less need for special handling.

The EnVentus platform is the next generation of Vestas technology, building on proven technology from the 2 MW, 4 MW and 9 MW platforms to meet customization needs more efficiently. Since the launch of the EnVentus platform in 2019, Vestas has secured orders for more than 5 GW across 13 different markets on four continents.

MORE INFO  www.vestas.com/en

The CrewSmart maritime operations management system has gained type approval for its Planned Maintenance System, part of its 2.0 software update.

CrewSmart PMS streamlines asset maintenance processes for offshore wind fleet managers to improve equipment efficiency, reduce costs, and prevent risks of breakdown or defects in assets during operation.

Safety and compliance are paramount concerns in offshore wind fleet management, critical to enable the fleet and its crew to operate at full capacity and provide vital operations and maintenance support to wind farms. Planning appropriate maintenance schedules is essential to maintaining these conditions.

“We use CrewSmart PMS to map out our service timelines based on time and engine hours, we look forward to it tracking inventory of all our supplies. The data has enabled us to make our service and maintenance processes much smoother and quicker, and gives us clear maintenance records to use as evidence in our audits. We’re also able to use the system for monitoring all other maintenance checks like fire, electronics, hydraulics, deck, and to measure engine hours and fuel consumption, meaning we can also monitor our carbon footprint, and as the interface can be used by crews on- and off-shore via the tablet app, our crews are empowered to take ownership of upholding safety and compliance cross the business,” said Max Perry, HSEQ Manager and DPA for offshore wind CTV operator, Dalby Offshore.

CrewSmart PMS employs estimated operational data to recommend appropriate maintenance schedules for assets and components, ensuring continued safe and compliant operation across the fleet. The platform also uses historical maintenance data to estimate costs for future maintenance and repair schedules, and giving more control to the asset manager in organizing and forecasting future maintenance.

The DNV approval benefits CrewSmart’s customers, said CrewSmart’s founder and technical director, Christian Adams.

“CrewSmart develops its solutions specifically to help its customers maintain full operational capacity and compliance, enabling them to manage and deploy their resources to best effect and keep assets healthier for longer. Securing DNV type approval for CrewSmart PMS is a real feather in our cap, confirming to all our customers that our systems comply with the highest standards of quality across the industry,” Adams said.

“Effective maintenance planning and execution can be an essential factor in maintaining safe and efficient operations and reliable PMS software is the foundation that enables this. Having DNV class type approval builds confidence and demonstrates that the system has been assessed to industry leading standards,” said Thomas Knödlseder, Principal Engineer, DNV Maritime.

MORE INFO  www.crewsmart.co.uk

A confidential owner of oil and gas platforms in the North Adriatic Concession area has contracted renewable energy consultancy Megajoule to install multiple wind Lidars as part of the company’s low carbon development strategy.

ZX Lidar’s Lidar ZX 300M, the offshore industry standard, will be deployed to begin taking measurements up to 300m from their installed position on the gas platforms to support the assessment of potential wind energy in the area.

“For decades we installed tall met masts at sea – it was the way offshore wind resource assessment was done. Today’s modern approach is with Lidar, specifically ZX 300M which in a relatively short period of time has probably already gathered more offshore wind data than ever previously existed from masts. It is the new standard for offshore wind resource assessment and Megajoule are proud to sign contracts with our confidential client, and with ZX Lidars to unlock the future of offshore wind in the Adriatic,” a Megajoule spokesperson said.

ZX 300M has been responsible for more than 95% of offshore wind measurements from floating platforms and the use of the technology has attracted more than £150bn in clean energy investment in the last five years. It is expected that Megajoule’s deployment of these Lidars shall also be used to finance future offshore wind farm development in the Adriatic.

ZX Lidars provides wind Lidar products, ZX 300, ZX 300M, and ZX TM for wind-energy and meteorological applications. These Lidars deliver wind measurements in both onshore and offshore applications at measurement heights and ranges across the full swept area of the blades of modern wind turbines. ZX Lidars has achieved world firsts with customers, including upwind measurements from a turbine nacelle, turbine wake studies, offshore deployments of both fixed and floating wind lidar, an industry-accepted validation process, re-financing and re-powering of a wind farm, successful demonstration of measurement accuracy in a wind tunnel and total wind project financing from a lidar without need for a met mast.

MORE INFO  www.zxlidars.com/wind-lidars/zx-300m/