ONYX Insight is partnering with Windcluster, a U.K. wind energy pioneer, to support the life extension of aging assets of 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 that 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.
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