Vaisala recently launched a new, digital transmitter to be used with Vaisala’s smart probes. The Indigo 202 provides an easy-to-use interface to different exchangeable probes.
The Indigo 202 is a new product in the Indigo series, which extends the range of Vaisala’s Indigo-compatible probes. With an analog-output version already on the market, now the Indigo 202 has a digital Modbus RTU output. These devices can be used with intelligent GMP251 and GMP252 carbon-dioxide probes; the range of probes will be expanded going forward. The next new Indigo-compatible probe will be the HPP272 probe for vaporized hydrogen peroxide, humidity, and temperature measurement, scheduled for availability in fall 2017.
The GMP251 and GMP252 carbon-dioxide probes are designed for harsh and humid environments. They are used in life science incubators, greenhouses, cold storages, and in demanding HVAC applications, such as livestock buildings.
One growing area of applying carbon-dioxide measurements is the use of carbon dioxide in cooling and refrigeration systems, as carbon dioxide is more environmentally friendly than traditional, for example, Freon-based refrigerants.
“In these systems, the reliable measurement of carbon-dioxide levels is important to ensure their safety to people,” said Maria Uusimaa, product manager at Vaisala.
The new HPP272 probe for the measurement of vaporized hydrogen peroxide is accurate and exceptionally repeatable. Hydrogen peroxide is used extensively in the bio-decontamination of rooms, facilities, and equipment as well as sterilization applications in the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare. For example, isolators, treatment rooms in hospitals, ambulances, or even airplanes can be decontaminated with vaporized hydrogen peroxide.
The Indigo 200 series transmitters are intended for demanding conditions, as they are resistant to dust and most chemicals, and their smooth surface is easy to clean.
The transmitter has a wireless user interface accessed by smartphones or other smart devices, for example. Through this interface, it is possible to configure the transmitter’s two relays, set the Modbus address, or change the display settings, among other things.
The Indigo 202 also helps to minimize downtime, as probes attached to it can be disconnected and changed into new ones, if needed. Instead of changing the probe, it can also be calibrated on site through the Indigo user interface, provided there is a calibration reference or a reference device available.
Seacat Services and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy have signed a two-year charter deal to support early Operations & Maintenance (O&M) activity at the 336MW Galloper Wind Farm.
Seacat Services is a class-leading offshore energy support vessel (OESV) operator and Siemens Gamesa is a global offshore wind manufacturer and service provider.
Having secured the 56-turbine supply deal for the multi-million pound project under construction by innogy SE, Siemens Gamesa is now supporting the wind farm as it moves into the operational phase, under the terms of a 15-year service contract. With the first batch of turbines starting to come online, meeting maintenance plans will be important to ensuring a smooth transition into long-term operations.
For the duration of the 24-month charter, Seacat Services will provide specialist logistical support to the Siemens Gamesa technical teams based out of Harwich, transporting technicians and equipment as they tackle both scheduled maintenance and technical requirements. To fulfill its commitment to the project, Seacat Services will deploy two advanced catamarans from its class-certified 14-vessel fleet; Seacat Vigilant and Seacat Liberty, 24 meters and 23 meters respectively.
The two vessels have been chosen specifically to support the variety and demands of the O&M activity that Siemens Gamesa technicians will be undertaking 30 kilometers from shore. Seacat Services’ newest vessel, Seacat Liberty, has been chosen for its high pulling power, which will complement the versatility and reliability of the larger Seacat Vigilant, which is fresh from a five-year refit.
“This long-term, large-scale, contract with Siemens Gamesa is testament to the reputation and quality of the service provided by Seacat Services’ crew and shore-based teams, and the strength of the relationship we have built with Siemens over the past few years,” said Ian Baylis, managing director, Seacat Services. “We’ve worked closely with Siemens Gamesa to ascertain which of our vessels are the best fit for this contract and will ultimately create long-term value by ensuring operations at Galloper get off to the strongest start possible. We’re thrilled to be introducing Seacat Liberty and the newly-refitted Seacat Vigilant onto the contract.”
Due to be fully operational in 2018, the Galloper Wind Farm has created 700 U.K. jobs during construction and will lead to a further 90 long-term east coast jobs. Siemens Gamesa’s choice of a U.K. supplier in Seacat Services — based out of Cowes, Isle of Wight — has further underlined its commitment to the local supply chain.
“We chose Seacat Services because we value local expertise, and because it is imperative that the vessels we charter for our technicians provide the highest quality service — not just the lowest costs,” said Steve Myers, implementation & asset manager at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “When working on projects of this complexity, it is critical that our offshore technicians are in the best position to do their jobs.”
“Our engineers and technicians will rely on vessel support through all stages of site operations, from completing planned maintenance, response through reactive maintenance, and troubleshooting,” he said. “Siemens Gamesa can trust that Seacat Services crew are trained to the highest industry standards, operating the most versatile, reliable, and advanced vessels available to support our offshore workforce at Galloper.”
Fulham Co., Inc., a leading supplier of lighting components and electronics for commercial and specialty applications, recently announced its FireHorse FHEM10 series of adjustable LED emergency lights has been certified compliant with California Energy Commission (CEC) Title 20 Code of Regulations for illumination performance and low-energy consumption.
“Fulham is proud to be one of the first suppliers to offer Title 20 compliant emergency lighting to market,” said Russ Sharer, vice president of Global Marketing for Fulham. “Our FHEM10 unit is one of our most popular emergency lighting products because of its versatility, easy installation, and low cost. With Title 20 having taken effect at the start of 2017, our distributor and contractor customers can now be assured that units they install today are fully compliant.”
FireHorse FHEM10 units meet the CEC Title 20 specifications outlined for small-diameter directional lamps, including power consumption of 75 watts or less. They also have a rated life of more than 25,000 hours and are equipped with ANSI-compliant or E26 base types. The regulation affects installations in California and Oregon.
The compact design and high output of the FHEM10 series has made it one of Fulham’s most popular sellers for emergency lighting. The unit is available in a high-lumen version; the FHEM10WH with 264 lumens; and a standard version, the FHEM10W with 148 lumens output. The units are dual voltage, operating at 120VAC or 277VAC.
All FHEM10 emergency lighting units feature a rechargeable Ni-Cd battery that delivers up to 90 minutes of emergency power. They also come with an LED charge indicator, push-to-test switch, and long-life, energy-saving LED light source. The units feature a universal mount with a pattern knockout in the back for J-box mounting and snap-fit assembly. Base units are available in white and black.
Fulham offers an extensive light of emergency lighting products that comply with international standards.
Runnur, a leading manufacturer of safe, secure solutions for carrying tablets in the field, recently launched a new line of hands-free, wearable tablet belt clips. Runnur’s clips are hip-mounted to either a person’s belt or to a separate heavy duty tool belt, providing users with immediate access to their tablets at all times. OtterBox, the No. 1 selling case for smartphones and tablets, recently partnered with Runnur to offer these devices to its customer base. All Runnur products are made in Texas, with the company’s headquarters based in Austin.
“Our products provide a unique combination of attributes: hands-free functionality, device access in one second, and protection against dropping,” said Andrew Hamra, CEO of Runnur. “You don’t expect a carpenter to carry his hammer around by hand all day — neither should we expect a field tech to do the same with their tablet.”
With 105 million workers going mobile by the year 2020 and spending in enterprise technology significantly up over the previous quarter, tablets are quickly becoming mainstream for millions of workers in fieldwork such as construction, oil and gas, healthcare, and more. However, companies are now running into a new problem: how to easily carry tablets while maintaining the productivity and efficiency these devices provide. Mobile workers cannot perform many of their usual tasks and carry a tablet at the same time. Simply put, since the value of mobility is based on a person’s ability to carry technology, how that technology is carried is an important part of the equation. Benefits include:
The Tablet Belt Clip allows users to easily carry a tablet on a belt like any other tool.
Easy-to-assemble mounting plate is secured with VHB™ peel-and-bond adhesive (Tensile Strength 90lbs sq/in).
Buckle mechanism locks tablet to hip when not in use.
Quick-press release button allows instant access to tablet in less than one second.
Security cord (included) prevents dropping to avoid costly delays in repair.
Reduces the probability of loss and theft.
Perfect for jobs that require two hands by freeing up an “additional hand” used to hold the tablet.
Axis has launched a new generation of positioning cameras, giving operators faster and more accurate pan-and-tilt capabilities to monitor large-scale sites, perimeters, and borders in real-time and are able to respond instantly to security alerts and incidents. Thanks to their enhanced capabilities, the new range of positioning cameras enables surveillance across vast sites with fewer cameras, with the potential for 360-degree unobstructed field-of-view at all times, and 135-degree field-of-view from ground to sky.
Axis Communications has delivered against some of the most pressing surveillance needs of organizations across the private and public sectors in launching new visual, bi-spectral, and thermal-positioning cameras.
“At their core, the needs of many of our customers can be distilled to the same thing: the need to rapidly identify and respond to incidents and breaches along perimeters and, of course, within their site,” said Michael Chen, global product manager at Axis Communications. “Our job is to empower them to do theirs, and our new range of cameras does just that. The sites that require monitoring can be vast — many thousands of hectares with perimeters hundreds of kilometers in length — and to give a comprehensive field-of-view using static cameras can be unfeasible. Pan-and-tilt capabilities are therefore essential, and our new range of positioning cameras takes these and other capabilities to a new level of performance.”
Camera features include:
High speed and jerk-free PTZ movements with continuous pan.
Built-in electronic image stabilization (EIS), helping against vibration caused by an unstable mounting surface or a wind-sensitive mast.
SFP slot for easy cable management and quick and effective installation for fiber-optic connection over long distances.
Powerful positioning capabilities even at high wind and wide temperature range.
Flexible mounting options on columns directly, or against walls and poles with robust accessories.
The new range includes thermal-positioning cameras, visual PTZ positioning cameras, and bi-spectral PTZ positioning cameras that combines both visual and thermal images.
Axis Q8641-E and AXIS Q8642-E PT thermal-network cameras: The thermal positioning cameras offer outstanding thermal contrast and 10-degree field-of-view, which together with analytics, enables long-range detection and immediate visual confirmation for the operator.
Axis Q8685-E/-LE PTZ network cameras: The visual PTZ positioning cameras offer high-video quality with HDTV 1080p, 30x zoom with focus recall, and extreme light sensitivity. The combination with Axis’ Forensic WDR (wide dynamic range) and low-light sensitivity ensures the highest image usability in challenging lighting conditions.
Axis Q8741-E and AXIS Q8742-E bi-spectral PTZ network cameras: The bi-spectral PTZ positioning cameras offer a combination of two live-video streams, one from a thermal sensor — used for detection and verification — and one from a high-definition visual sensor — for identification of colors and details. The cameras also feature 30x zoom, forensic WDR, and low-light sensitivity.
Additionally, Axis Q8741-LE, Axis Q8742-LE, and Axis Q8685-LE cameras include long-life and long-range IR for improved visibility during nighttime. In places where there is a high risk of window contamination from dust, salt, sand, and emission of soot from vehicles, such as in traffic monitoring, airport, harbor, and public area surveillance, these cameras are equipped with remote-maintenance against rain and dirt using wiper and washer.
Eltech Anemos S.A. recently placed an order for 90 MW of V136-3.45 MW turbines delivered in 3.6 MW power optimized mode. The park will be the largest in Greece and the first in the country featuring the V136-3.45 MW.
Vestas will supply and install 25 turbines delivered in 3.6 MW power optimized mode. The turbines will be installed at the Kassidiaris wind park complex in the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece.
“Vestas has shown great understanding of the project’s specific requirements and provided their latest technology, solutions, and wind expertise to achieve the best returns,” said A. Fragoulis, technical director of Eltech Anemos S.A. “By using the V136-3.45 MW in its 3.6 MW power optimized mode, the project will exceed the initial target for performance and benefits.”
The contract comprises supply and installation of the wind turbines as well as a 20-year active output management 4000 (AOM4000) service agreement to optimize energy output at all times. Delivery of the wind turbines is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2018.
“Building the largest wind park in Greece underlines Vestas’ market-leading position, and we are pleased to partner with Eltech Anemos S.A. once again for another landmark project,” said Marco Graziano, president of Vestas Mediterranean. “By introducing the V136-3.45 MW to the Greek market in 3.6 power optimized mode, we are also raising the bar for energy output in the market, and I am confident the Kassidiaris project will strengthen our partnership even further.”
In 2015, Vestas signed the 40 MW Lyrkio project with Eltech Anemos S.A. and has installed a total of about 1.3 GW of wind turbines in Greece.
It may be the July issue of Wind Systems, but in my head, I’m still buzzing about AWEA’s recent WINDPOWER show in Anaheim, California, in May.
It was my first wind show, and I was so impressed by what I saw and by all the amazing people who I met from almost every facet of the industry.
It was also great to be able to put a face to a name (and an email) of all the awesome and friendly people I’ve gotten to know through their contributions to Wind Systems.
During the show, Wind Systems partnered with Snap-on Tools to give away three incredible toolboxes.
Each day during the show, Wind Systems held a raffle for the toolboxes, and judging by the crowds, it was a popular stop for the pre-lunch attendees.
Everett Kennedy, Andre Lamarre, and Ryan Bonner became the proud winners of the sturdy, fire-engine-red toolboxes. I think they were as excited to win as we were to give them away.
The show was a great success for AWEA and the industry, and many of the industry’s movers and shakers were on hand to express their support of wind and gave a glimpse into its future both here and abroad. In Crosswinds, you’ll find a summary of a few topics that were discussed.
But in the midst of the post-show excitement, take a look at what else you’ll find in our July issue:
The inFocus section hones in on towers, safety, and wires and cable. With those topics in mind, engineers from Exponent Inc. offer their insights on keeping aging turbines spinning and profitable.
In the matter of safety, we have a special Q&A with an FAA manager in which he discusses obstruction lighting.
And an expert with Helukabel talks about the advantages of aluminum vs. copper conductors and how to reduce cost through the electrical cable supply chain.
You’ll read all that and more, and it just proves that it’s an exciting time for wind. If I heard that once at WINDPOWER, I heard it a thousand times. And, you know what? I never got tired of it and neither should you.
Senvion, a leading global manufacturer of wind turbines, was appointed by Beleolico Srl to be the supplier for Taranto wind farm. Taranto will be the first offshore plant in the Mediterranean Sea, with a total rated power of 30 MW. The project will feature 10 Senvion 3.0M122, each with a hub height of 100 meters.
The turbines will be in front of Taranto harbor in the Apulia region (Southern Italy), in a water depth of four to 18 meters. Delivery and installation of the turbines is planned for summer 2018, while their commissioning is expected in fall 2018. Jointly with the turbines supply and installation, the agreement foresees a 25-year full maintenance service contract for the Taranto wind farm.
“We thank Belenergia for the trust in our technology for this project which further strengthens the Senvion relationship with Italy and the Apulia region in particular,” said Carlo Schiapparelli, managing director of Senvion Italia. “We are proud to contribute our experience to the construction of the first Italian offshore wind farm. Senvion has always been a pioneer in offshore wind energy, and we are now continuing this path in Italy. With the very specific requirements on the turbines, Senvion combined its offshore experience and its onshore expertise on the 3.XM machine to provide the ideal turbine for the Mediterranean Sea.”
“Belenergia has been investing in the offshore wind project of Taranto since 2012,” said Jacques Edouard Lévy, CEO of Belenergia SA. “After a long administrative and engineering gestation, we are happy to enter into the industrial phase, with the help of our local and international design engineering firms (Studio Severini, IA.ING, Deutsche Offshore Consult GmbH) and naturally, the strong support of Senvion. Belenergia is well aware that this is a first offshore plant in the Mediterranean Sea, with specific challenges to meet. But thanks to the upstream initial works, we are quite confident that this new venture will be an industrial success that both our investors, but also our Italian and European partners, will be proud of, both from a technological dimension and for its ecological impact.”
Active in the Italian market since 2004, Senvion has installed nearly 940 MW in the country, producing almost all the necessary steel towers in the Apulia region at Leucci Costruzioni facilities in Brindisi.
GE Renewable Energy recently announced a commitment to provide Invenergy, North America’s largest independent, privately held clean-energy provider, with 120 GE2.5-116 90-meter turbines for the Santa Rita wind farm in Reagan County, Texas. The 300 MW wind farm, expected to be commissioned in 2018, will power the equivalent of 102,500 U.S. homes.
This is Invenergy’s first wind farm using GE’s 2.5-116 turbines, which offer greater energy capture and improved project economics for wind developers. A portion of the turbines installed at the Santa Rita wind farm will include blades manufactured by LM Wind Power, recently acquired by GE Renewable Energy.
“Invenergy and GE have a long history of successfully working together to provide several gigawatts of affordable, reliable, sustainable energy,” said Pete McCabe, president and CEO of GE’s Onshore Wind business. “We are pleased to continue this relationship as we develop the Santa Rita Wind Farm and bring more renewable energy to Texas.”
“We are always exploring innovative ways to advance our clean-energy generation, and we’re excited to work with GE — a long-standing partner with an excellent reputation for innovation — to maximize the efficiency of our Santa Rita Wind Farm,” said Jim Shield, Invenergy’s EVP and chief commercial officer.
GE also will implement its digital wind farm solutions, including software to support wind operations including asset performance management analytic capabilities and cyber security through its SCADA secure edition.
Southwire has launched a new multi-strand, high-quality aluminum cable with installation, cost, and safety advantages that make it particularly suitable for down-tower wind-turbine applications.
“The wind industry is expected to continue its robust growth as a top source of renewable energy generating capacity in the country,” said Brad Pollard, OEM sales manager. “The addition of this new down-tower cable expands our product line in a key area and demonstrates our commitment to ongoing innovation for our customers.”
Southwire’s aluminum down tower cable is composed of three layers:
8000 series aluminum conductor per ASTM B800, Class C compact strand per ASTM B801 or single input wire stranding per ASTM B836.
Mylar binder tape.
Two-layer composite wall insulation, with an EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) inner layer and a CPE (chlorinated polyethylene) outer layer.
Benefits of the Southwire cable include:
Ease of installation. The multi-strand aluminum cable is more flexible than similar aluminum cables, which makes it easier to install. In addition, the CPE outer layer will allow clamps to grip, which also contributes to ease of installation.
Lower cost. Generally speaking, aluminum is a less expensive metal than copper.
Oil resistance. The product has been tested to common oils used in wind turbines per manufacturers’ requirements in Southwire’s labs.
Increased safety. Because of its flexibility, the cable can be connected to the electrical access boxes inside a tower without having an extra splice and connector, eliminating excess cutting.
America’s wind industry recently recorded its best start in eight years, installing 908 utility-scale turbines and switching on more megawatts in the first quarter of 2017 than the first three quarters of 2016 combined, according to a recent report from AWEA.
Apex Clean Energy recently celebrated the final delivery of the largest renewable energy project serving the U.S. Army at Fort Hood. Drawing wind power from the 50.4 MW Cotton Plains Wind project in Floyd County, Texas, and solar power from the on-base 15.4 MWac Phantom Solar facility, the first hybrid renewable project to serve the Army will provide approximately half of the overall energy demands of Fort Hood while saving U.S. taxpayers $168 million over the 28-year life of the project.
Fort Hood is the largest active-duty armored post in the U.S. military, with an annual economic impact to the Texas economy of more than $35 billion. Fort Hood directly employs more than 60,000 people and indirectly affects more than 140,000 jobs. The innovative deal structure includes the creation of a new retail electric provider. ACE Power, a subsidiary of Apex, will deliver 100 percent of the energy required by Fort Hood through three substations. The design includes microgrid-ready capabilities, providing the ultimate energy security of independence from the grid as necessary.
Apex President and CEO Mark Goodwin joined senior military officers and civilian leaders in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the partnership and unprecedented project, including representatives of the Defense Logistics Agency Energy (DLA), the U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives, and the Fort Hood Directorate of Public Works.
“Clean and reliable renewable energy can help make our military bases stronger, more robust, and more adaptable to the threats of a changing world,” Goodwin said. “The vision shown here will be increasingly recognized as other bases and branches of our military seek to replicate the economic performance and energy security provided this project.”
The Honorable Richard G. Kidd IV, deputy secretary of the Army (Strategic Integration), spoke about the mission compatibility of the project.
“This project will help sustain Fort Hood’s vital missions, assure access to an important resource supply, and bolster an already impressive portfolio of alternative and renewable energy projects in the Army,” Kidd said. “But most importantly, this project is a step toward energy security and resiliency, which underwrite the Army’s unique ability to rapidly deploy, employ, and sustain military forces around the globe.”
Following the 497-MW order for the EnBW Hohe See offshore wind-power-plant, EnBW has also awarded Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy with the installation of the neighboring 112-MW-project EnBW Albatros. The scope of supply includes 16 direct-drive SWT-7.0-154 wind turbines on monopile foundations and the grid connection via a Siemens Offshore Transformer Module (OTM). Siemens Gamesa will install both wind-power plants in parallel. Installation will start in spring 2018.
The projects are 90 kilometers north of Borkum Island in the German North Sea with water depths up to 40 meters. The combination of both projects offers synergies to EnBW in respect to planning, construction, and during operation. Due to Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s complete solution for Albatros — ranging from turbines to substation technology — the project benefits from full optimization opportunities: Through the project-specific approach, all technology components are perfectly aligned so the risk for all involved parties is mitigated. At the same time, a bundling of installation works and centralized project planning create valuable synergies. After commissioning in 2019, Siemens Gamesa initially will provide service and maintenance for the turbines over a period of five years.
EnBW Albatros is the first German offshore wind power plant that Siemens will supply as a full-scope project. Furthermore, it includes the entry of the compact Siemens OTM in the German market. Thanks to focusing on key electrical components and cutting auxiliary systems, it allows a reduction in weight and size of more than 30 percent compared to a conventional AC substation. Further cost out is achieved by using the same foundation type for the OTM as for the turbines. The ultra-compact design of the platform not only reduces installation costs due to its low weight, but it also reduces service and maintenance efforts. EnBW Albatros will be connected to the power grid via the Borwin Beta HVDC converter-platform approximately 25 kilometers away and had been delivered by Siemens as well.
In the same way as for EnBW Hohe See, Siemens also is partnering with the Belgian offshore construction specialist GeoSea for Albatros regarding construction and installation of the monopiles. Again, the extended scope and the inter-coordinated complete solution including installation works, construction elements, and wind-turbine technology add to the synergies of the combined projects to enable a highly efficient realization of the projects. Inter-array cabling and coordination of the construction work remain in the scope of EnBW.
“EnBW Albatros allows us to demonstrate our broad competence in offshore projects, ranging from project specific engineering services and the beneficial combination of power generation and transmission technology to service and maintenance concepts,” said Michael Hannibal, CEO Offshore of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “This project has a high relevance for us since we will turn the 112-MW wind-power plant into a highly profitable investment for our customer via cutting edge technology and smart details.”
Senvion S.A. recently announced Steven Holliday has joined the supervisory board as its new chairman. Holliday has been approved by the supervisory board to follow Stefan Kowski, who stepped down as chairman and retired from the supervisory board following the annual general meeting of Senvion’s shareholders in May.
Holliday has a distinguished background that includes extensive and relevant board level experience. He led National Grid, an international electricity and gas company responsible for delivering energy across the U.K. and the northeastern U.S., as chief executive for nearly 10 years and was a non-executive director of Marks & Spencer for 10 years. Holliday has been deputy chairman and senior independent non-executive director at FTSE 100 listed ConvaTec since its 2016 IPO and is also the lead non-executive director at DEFRA, the U.K. government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
“Management and the supervisory board are very pleased to welcome Steven Holliday as chairman,” said Jürgen, CEO at Senvion. “The company continues to execute its growth strategy by driving innovation, quality, and growth by focusing on our customers.”
“I would like to express my personal thanks and appreciation for Stefan Kowski’s passionate work and commitment,” Geissinger said.
“It has been an honor and a very fulfilling mission to serve as chairman of Senvion while the company has strengthened its position as a technology leader,” Kowski said.
Sri Sritharan called up a digital map of the United States and pointed to a dark blue band running through the middle of the country.
That’s wind country. The blue band runs east from the Rockies to just south of the Great Lakes, then around Arkansas and down to south Texas. It shows where there’s potential capacity for wind turbines 80 meters (about 262 feet) above the ground. That height is the current standard. You can see those towers all over Iowa.
But look at another map, Sritharan said, who is the Wilkinson Chairman in Iowa State University’s College of Engineering, a professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering and the interim assistant dean for strategic initiatives. When turbines are 140 meters (about 459 feet) off the ground, that blue band expands to the Southeast, moves around the Appalachians and covers parts of the Northeast, according to studies by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory based in Golden, Colorado.
“These slides are starting to create a lot of interest,” Sritharan said. “Taller turbine towers can enable wind energy production in all 50 states, including those in the Southeast.”
Winds at higher elevations, generally, are stronger and more consistent, even in wind-rich states such as Iowa and Texas. In fact, Sritharan said a 20-meter increase (about 66 feet) in tower height creates a 10 percent boost in Iowa energy production.
And so Sritharan has been leading development of new concrete tower technology capable of reaching those heights.
He calls the technology “Hexcrete,” which can also be combined with steel tubular technology to create hybrid wind-turbine towers.
The basic idea of Hexcrete is that it’s assembled from precast panels and columns made with high-strength or ultra-high-performance concrete. Those panels and columns can be cast in sizes that are easy to load on trucks. They are tied together on-site by cables to form hexagon-shaped cells. A crane can stack the cells to form towers as high as 140 meters.
Sritharan has just completed an 18-month study of Hexcrete supported by $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, $83,500 from the Iowa Energy Center, and $22,500 of in-kind contributions from Lafarge North America Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The project’s industry partners also include the Siemens Corp.’s Corporate Technology center in Princeton, New Jersey; Coreslab Structures (OMAHA) Inc. of Bellevue, Nebraska; and BergerABAM of Federal Way, Washington.
Lab Tests, Economic Studies
Sritharan and his research group have pushed and pulled an assembled test section with 100,000 pounds of force for more than 2 million cycles. The test section passed that fatigue test. The researchers also have tested a full-scale, cross-section of a tower cell for operational loads and extreme loads for a 2.3 MW Siemens turbine. Again, Hexcrete passed the tests.
“The testing was very successful,” Sritharan said. “The testing did show the system will work as we expected. There are no concerns about the cable connections or the concrete panels and columns.”
The technology also looked good in economic studies.
“Our study shows the Hexcrete option at heights of 120 to 140 meters (about 394 to 459 feet) will be cost competitive,” he said.
The Iowa State researchers used models from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to calculate the levelized cost of energy. The levelized cost is the total cost of installing and operating an energy project over its expected life.
The researchers also worked with about a dozen wind-energy companies to evaluate the models and confirm the economic findings were realistic.
Sritharan said the models show using Hexcrete technology to build 120- to 140-meter wind-turbine towers could drop the levelized costs 10 percent to 18 percent under the costs of current 80-meter technologies.
A Prototype Tower
With the lab and economic studies showing positive results, Sritharan said he’s working to form a university-industry partnership to build a prototype Hexcrete tower. He said the tower would likely be 100- to 120-meters high (about 328 to 394 feet). And it could be entirely Hexcrete, or it could be a hybrid tower with a Hexcrete base and a tubular steel top.
With appropriate financing, Sritharan said a prototype tower could be built in about a year. It could even be built in the Southeast.
That could be a good demonstration of the wind maps that, for example, show little potential for Alabama wind energy at 80 meters, a little potential in the northeast corner of the state at 110 meters (about 361 feet) and nearly statewide potential at 140 meters.
“Tall towers can add more capacity for renewable energy in all states across the nation,” Sritharan said.
FR8 Revolution Inc., an Oakland-based company that develops free cloud-based tools to improve efficiency in freight transportation, has launched a fully integrated freight-rate estimator and booking platform for open deck loads at www.fr8star.com. FR8Star offers a marketplace where shippers of large and heavy renewable energy materials can receive bids on loads and book directly with heavy haul and open-deck carriers.
FR8Star simplifies the load-bidding process, so shippers can easily manage carrier relations without a broker. Among the benefits to shippers is direct knowledge of the marketplace, what carriers themselves are bidding, not the marked-up quotes from brokers. Benefits accrue to both parties in a transaction, and shippers are particularly empowered to easily participate directly in this specialized marketplace.
A free FR8Star account enables shippers to directly access FR8Star’s load marketplace that includes a patent-pending rate calculator for pricing oversize/overweight loads, including up-to-date state permit fees and escort costs.
FR8Star provides carriers with free dispatch software and an app that includes tracking and communication to keep shippers informed of load status automatically.
To use FR8Star’s free estimator, a shipper goes to www.fr8star.com, sets up an account, and begins operating. The shipper can then post loads in the FR8Star platform and receive bids from carriers.
For decades, brokers have facilitated transactions between shippers and carriers. But pricing information is not evenly distributed. Broker interaction can increase this lack of pricing transparency resulting in higher rates for shippers and lower rates for carriers.
“We believe the United States truck freight market operates most efficiently when carriers and shippers work directly with one another,” said Matthew Kropp, CEO of FR8 Revolution. “Given our patent-pending heavy-haul rate estimator, and our experience in the heavy haul market, focusing on this underserved space was an obvious decision.”
“We designed FR8Star to provide better service to shippers by allowing them to both contract directly and share real-time information about loads,” he said. “FR8Star helps each side of the transaction to make more profit while eliminating the need for a pricey middleman.”
“The FR8Star platform continues to build on the fr8.guru dispatch platform launched a year ago and has been the result of a deep collaboration with our customers and our VW-MAN and Velocity Vehicle Group strategic partners,” Kropp said.
There was a lot to take in at this year’s WINDPOWER show in Anaheim, California, sponsored by the American Wind Energy Association.
Hundreds of exhibitors running the gamut from manufacturers to O&M to drone services to power distributors were on hand to proudly display what they bring to the table in the ever-expanding wind industry.
It also served as an opportunity for many industry leaders to have a platform to speak directly to those most affected by current events and future endeavors.
The three-day event featured panel discussions and speeches from key players that included AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan; Tristan Grimbert, president and CEO of EDF Renewable Energy; Chris Brown, president of Vestas Americas; and Pete McCabe, president and CEO of GE Renewable Energy’s Onshore Wind.
Despite some caveats that stemmed from the current political climate, the overall message was positive.
Kiernan said there were more than 100,000 jobs in wind in 2016, and that the industry is hiring veterans 50 percent faster than the national average. And a whole new area in wind for the U.S. opened up when the first offshore wind farm began operations off the coast of Rhode Island near the end of 2016.
With those opportunities, corporations such as Amazon and Tide are helping lead the way by making commitments to use clean, renewable energy to power their factories and offices, according to Kiernan.
GE Renewable’s pavilion offered virtual reality goggles and a detailed miniature of a wind farm. (Courtesy: Kenneth Carter)
Staying the Course
Brown emphasized the difference in the last year, transforming from setting the course to staying the course.
“I said that we were on the right side of history,” he said. “While wind continues to compete on price, the hardest decision we made was to accept as an industry the PTC stays down. It was a bold, visionary decision based on a belief that we could compete on a level playing field, and we could compete on cost. That took courage. And I’m here today to tell you we need to stay that course. The last 12 record-breaking months have proved that we are delivering on that fundamental proposition of our vision of low-cost power for the consumers.”
Brown added that even though some in the industry may be feeling a little fear in the unknown, that fear is healthy.
“If you’re feeling that fear, then good — welcome to life as an energy disruptor,” he said.
And as the grid becomes more and more stable as wind energy grows, the industry attracts critics, according to Brown.
“Why do those critics pay attention to us?” he asked. “Because we’re a threat. Because we’re winning.”
Kevin de Leon, president pro tempore of the California State Senate, lauded his state’s strides at being a pioneer in the wind industry as it continues to lead the way for renewable energy.
“California is a model for the rest of the world,” he said.
Ben Fowke, president and CEO of Xcel, said that wind has steadily improved over the last 10 years.
And although for many, the environment plays a factor in investing in wind, it’s also about the bottom line.
“For our customers who are economically driven, it’s about money,” he said. “Wind is a fuel that is saving them money.”
Dong Energy’s booth boasted a mockup of its Anholt offshore wind farm. (Courtesy: Kenneth Carter)
Industry Influences
Renee Carlson, procurement manager for global energy with 3M Corporation, said the industry is changing the way her company buys energy.
Amy Francetic, SVP of new ventures and corporate affairs for Invenergy, mirrored that statement.
“Wind is the largest part of our portfolio,” she said. “We have developed and have in construction 15 GW of power, and that’s across wind, solar, battery storage, and natural gas, and it’s really important to us to try to always site our projects and determine our contracts so we can deliver the lowest possible price but also get really terrific efficiency from the equipment, so there’s been a lot of amazing improvements in the equipment to get better and better efficiency. And there’s a lot of opportunity as a developer and an owner/operator to make sure that we’re managing those assets as capably as possible, so we can deliver reliability and security and affordability to customers.”
And many industry experts expect technology to play a hand in that.
“The markets are designed for competitiveness,” Francetic said. “So let’s let the markets do their thing. And the older assets need to retire, as it’s too costly to keep them online and keep them clean. Especially when you have such affordable resources now coming online. And we’re really excited about a lot of new solutions. We don’t have any offshore wind, but I’m personally really excited to see offshore wind happen. And I think there are going to be remarkable advances in the technologies around turbine design, around transmission on offshore wind, and that’s going to benefit onshore, so this is an exciting time to be in renewables.”
Opportunity
If there was any doubt in wind’s future, it did not make an appearance during WINDPOWER’s sessions or among the hundreds of industry businesses proudly displaying their talents and resources on the show floor. Industry leaders continued to boast their pride and enthusiasm about wind’s future, especially during the next five years.
“Our future is not about fear; it’s about opportunity,” Brown said. “The next five years of this industry aren’t going to be the end of the industry. They’re going to be the best five years of your life.”
The rectangular industrial connector is where it all began for HARTING Americas, but it’s grown into so much more since the company’s founder, Wilhelm Harting, started making small appliances in 1945.
HARTING’s rectangular industrial connector was meant to transfer power in industrial applications, and it revolutionized the industry, according to Will Stewart, industry segment manager for energy at HARTING.
“Since then, we’ve really expanded our portfolio,” Stewart said. “And now we have the cabling systems behind it. We have PCB connectivity; we have network components for fast or gigabit Ethernet. We have fiber-optics systems, complete RFID systems, and now we’re looking toward the future with edge devices and being able to aggregate data from legacy systems and send it to IT databases, which is what people call the Internet of Things or sending it to the cloud.”
HARTING’s products and experience are found in a plethora of industries, including wind.
“I think our goal in the wind industry is to lower the overall cost of ownership of the wind turbine,” Stewart said. “The rectangular connector is obviously a critical component.”
The Rectangular Connector
HARTING connectors come in many shapes and sizes, but their rugged, durable design ensures your data, signal, and power will be connected in any conditions. (Photos courtesy: HARTING Americas)
The rectangular connector is a device that passes data, signal, or power, according to Stewart, and what makes it revolutionary for industry is the benefits it can offer down the road.
“When we look at wind turbines, there are a lot of hidden costs that are involved with the ownership,” he said. “Over the 20-year lifetime of a wind turbine, operations and maintenance will cost about 54 percent of the initial cost of the turbine. Of that 54 percent, 65 percent of that is unplanned downtime. So you have a significant portion of money that is going to be given to unplanned downtime and operations and maintenance. And connectorizing can absolutely minimize that cost.”
Stewart offers the slip ring as an example.
Slip rings typically need to be replaced every three to five years. In order to replace that worn-out, hard-wired slip ring, a licensed, skilled technician has to climb up that turbine. Once there, the technician has to unplug every individual wire that’s terminated on that slip ring, remove and replace the slip ring, and terminate each individual wire again.
“It’s time consuming,” Stewart said. “It requires skilled labor. It opens the possibility to wiring errors. So there are a lot of hidden costs that are involved in hard-wiring.”
Lowering Costs
Connectorizing helps to eliminate many of those problems by eliminating some of the time-intensive repair steps.
“Now all you need to do is unplug it, take the part out, put the new part in, and plug it back in instead of having a specialized worker come in and unplug every single individual wire,” Stewart said.
Connectorizing would even help lower turbine costs during the initial construction phase, according to Stewart.
All the individual components that make up a turbine are manufactured in separate areas and brought to an assembly facility where everything is tested to make sure it works properly. It’s then disassembled and sent to the site where it’s reassembled and brought online for power generation.
“But, again, if you take for example the slip ring, you’re spending an hour, two hours, wiring that slip ring at the assembly facility, putting it in the turbine, spending the time to disassemble it again, and then shipping it out into the field and then doing all that time assembling it again,” Stewart said.
Simplifying the Supply Chain
HARTING introduced the Han-Eco® Modular Hoods and Housings as a corrosion-resistant, lightweight alternative to the metal hoods and housings used in tough industrial environments.
One of HARTING Americas fastest growing lines in industrial connectivity is its Han-modular® solution, which allows multiple inserts in one hood and housing, Stewart said. This allows a customer to keep costs down by combining two individual connectors into one.
“It decreases the cost of the system,” he said. “It allows you to simplify your supply chain. It was introduced in the ’90s.”
By installing connectors in the beginning, the initial cost may be more, but it will more than pay for itself during the life of the turbine, according to Stewart.
“It’s easy to say, OK, well it’ll be an added cost to the turbine right now, but if you look at the overall ownership of a wind turbine, it can actually significantly lower your cost,” he said. “Connectorization means it takes less time to install and repair a turbine. Now, you are minimizing the cost of repair; you’re maximizing the uptime of your turbine, and you’re maximizing your ROI. Using connectors has the unique effect of both decreasing your costs and increasing your production. On top of that, it simplifies labor, and now you don’t need to find a specific technician, a specific electrician whenever there’s a problem with the electrical components of a turbine.”
And that can be an important factor as statistics show the wind-turbine technician is one of the more difficult positions to fill in the U.S. And as the industry continues to grow, the demand for those techs will only continue to increase.
“When you look at something like connectorizing, that very much assuages the problems of filling those positions,” Stewart said.
Rugged Statistics
The rectangular connector is fully IP rated and consists of a male insert, a female insert, a hood, and a housing, according to Stewart. The connector can be UV resistant, saltwater resistant for offshore turbines, EMC-resistant, and vibration proof. The insert is where the wires are terminated and physically connects the data, signal, or power.”
“That’s where you’re passing power to the motor,” he said. “Let’s say you have an anemometer that’s reading the wind speed and transmitting a 4-20mA signal; we will select the insert that allows you to pass that signal inside the cabinet. We also do data, so that’s fiber optics; that’s Ethernet communications; that can be D-sub communications. We can also pass power for the pitch or yaw motor. All of that you can fit into one connector that can be UV rated, that can be IP65, 67, all the way up to 69K. We also offer a plastic solution, which makes it a little more cost effective, a little less expensive, and lighter.”
Connector Transition
Part of HARTING’s goal is to convince American manufacturers that connectorizing is a more economical solution than a hard-wired approach, according to Stewart.
“I think the idea of connectorization, where it started, was more readily accepted in Europe,” he said. “It’s kind of where the seed took. If you go over to America, we’re more hard-wired prone, because that’s what American industry used when PLCs were being developed in the ’70s, and that momentum continues to drive engineers toward hard wiring.”
Europe has seen the benefits with connectorization, and that technology has only recently been seen as similarly beneficial in the U.S., according to Stewart.
“In America, we’re trying to show the benefits of connectorization and how it can lower your overall cost of ownership, decrease installation time, decrease maintenance time and save money in the long term for these utilities or for these companies that are purchasing the wind turbines,” he said.
Repowering Turbines
Stewart said he expects connectorization to become more of a standard in the U.S. as repowering older turbines gets more popular.
“A lot of our connectors are going on turbines that are being repowered,” he said. “I think that this is a great time to start realizing the benefits of connectorization, if you were hard wiring previously.”
The Han® standard, Han-Yellock®, and Han® 3A are a few of the connector solutions offered by HARTING Americas.
A big factor in repowering turbines is the extension of the production tax credit. In order to take advantage of extending the PTC, 80 percent of a turbine’s cost must be replaced.
“You keep up to 20 percent of the old turbine, and whatever you’re putting in new has to be worth at least 80 percent of the new turbine in order to extend the PTC,” Stewart said. “That’s the rotor, and that’s the nacelle. There are a lot of electrical components that are in the hub and that are in the nacelle. And that’s really where you see a lot of the benefits of the connectorization.”
Stewart sees the repowering trend as a way to implement connectorization, especially when half the cost of a turbine often comes from unplanned maintenance.
“How do we mitigate that? This is where the connectorized solution comes in and is able to help you reduce your costs over the entire life of the turbine,” he said. “Repowering is just another opportunity for us to make our pitch about why connectorization is actually the smart solution if you want to keep your costs down.”
Major Market Segments
HARTING is involved in four major market segments: automation, machinery and robotics, transportation, and energy.
“So energy is a big focus for HARTING Americas,” Stewart said. “If you talk about our projects, we have projects all over every type of application.”
In addition to wind, some of those applications include train systems, conveyer belts, heavy machinery, data centers, switchgear, reclosers, power plants, substations, and solar inverters, according to Stewart.
“And we have full-system solutions that we can develop,” he said. “One of our key value propositions is that we develop our products with customers. We don’t just have a line that we developed 70 years ago, and say, ‘use this; use this.’ We are always coming out with new products.”
But specifically in wind, HARTING Americas has a hand in a lot of different systems.
“We actually can do whole-system solutions in a wind turbine, from the hub to the nacelle all the way down the tower,” Stewart said “We don’t make the actual equipment. We don’t make the gearbox. We don’t make the generator. We can do the control cabinet, but we won’t do the PLC inside of it or anything like that. But if we’re going to start from the hub, we can connectorize the pitch motor. We can connectorize the slip rings. We can get the data from the hub and through the nacelle. We can do fiber-optic or Ethernet communications through the slip ring as well. We can connectorize the anemometers and the wind vanes on top of the turbines. We can cable that all the way back to the PLC cabinets. We can do the lighting solutions all the way down the tower. We have solutions for inside the gearbox if it’s a geared turbine. We have a solution where we actually put RFID on the gears themselves, which can monitor the temperature inside the gearbox and predict failures.”
That data can be aggregated and monitored for preventive maintenance.
Cabling Solutions
In HARTING’s Elgin, Illinois, and Mexico locations, it can do the cabling involved in wind turbines as well.
The Han-Modular® connector range is flexible enough to have a single piece design or multi-modules locked together in a single frame.
“A lot of companies, a lot of OEMS, will hire a cable manufacturer and say, ‘we’ve been sold by HARTING; we know we want to use their products in order to transfer the data, signal and power, but now we have to bring in a cable house,’ and they have to get margined, and it’s just a more fragmented supply chain,” Stewart said. “We will do the cabling ourselves with cost effective solutions in Mexico, so we can do the entire connection from the cabinet to the actual machine, or from the cabinet down to the bottom of the nacelle. We have full cabling solutions. We have an engineering team on staff that’s dedicated to making these cabling solutions, and we can do all of that in house. And that’s something that not a lot of people know about, but it’s something that we’re pretty proud of, and we think that it’s a good solution for a lot of our customers.”
Customer Collaboration
A lot of the products offered by HARTING aren’t simple off-the-shelf. Stewart said HARTING prides itself in working with its customers to come up with the best solutions, and if that means creating something brand new, then that’s the path the company takes.
“I think the most important thing for us is making sure that we’re collaborating with the customer through the entire process, and making sure we’re delivering exactly what they need,” he said. “It’s not just: Send an order, and we will send it back to you. It’s: Let’s make sure we’re giving you exactly what’s best for your application at the best price point. And then if we look toward the future, we can collaborate our roadmaps so that if you will need a connectivity solution that is higher speed, is more rugged, or has integrated functionality, we are eager to work with you to make sure we can provide it.”
Stewart cites as an example a recent collaboration with customers in the U.S. and Brazil.
“One of the things that has added to the fragmented supply chain is the fact that you have to get an arrester, a surge protector, for the anemometer coming in and the wind vane coming in, and protect the components inside the cabinet in case of an electrical spike,” he said. “And we have been talking to our customers, and right now we’re developing an integrated surge protection insert, which can actually arrest any electrical spikes inside the connector.”
This innovation — which is still in development — demonstrates the benefits of connectorization with its ease of maintenance and installation, which, in turn, lowers the cost of ownership.
“By putting the arrester in the connector, you’re reducing your supply chain, and you are able to get more out of that connector,” Stewart said. “We call it smart connectivity.”
And the arrester is not only for wind, but for other industries as well, according to Stewart.
“This is an example of how we collaborate with our customers in order to give them a solution that they originally didn’t think was possible, because no one was coming up and saying, ‘hey, wouldn’t it be nice if these things were combined,’” he said. “And that’s what we like to do: Talk to our customers in order to be able to give them something that pushes the future and pushes performance.”
The Han® Industrial product line incorporates small connectors capable of a few amps up to large multi-way high power connections.
Continued Innovation
Although its innovative strides have remained steady, HARTING Americas has added Canada, Mexico, and Brazil to its subsidiary since it started in 1986. And the HARTING brand has a worldwide presence with more than 4,000 employees in 40 countries with 15 manufacturing plants.
And that innovation continues as HARTING Americas works on incorporating data aggregation into its already extensive portfolio.
The company has developed an edge device called MICA. The MICA can connect to a legacy system and send aggregated data to the cloud, according to Stewart. It’s Linux-based and completely open sourced. It’s rugged and IP 65/67 rated. The technology will be able to connect to every system and aggregate data in the cloud, all incorporated within a connector.
“We think the future is not just connectivity, but we think it’s going to be smart connectivity,” he said. “Intelligence inside the connector will be able to aggregate everything into one individual component, so you get the most value you can out of the fewest amount of parts. And that’s really what we’re trying to provide to our customers.”
Allow me to first thank Wind Systems magazine for the opportunity to participate in this interview with a primary focus on the safety of all the hard-working technicians in the wind industry.
Our mission statement is “Safe Work in Wind Turbines” with our focus and value statement explaining that “through high-quality safety products and solutions for wind-turbine towers, we help our customers make wind energy more cost competitive.”
These are critical and broad areas as employees in the wind industry are deploying their activities in a risky environment such as working at heights, electrical hazards, manual handling, fire, confined space, and other surrounding aspects as extreme temperatures, onshore and offshore access, wildlife, etc.
What are your duties with Avanti?
Since 2006, I have held a general manager — sales and business development position with the responsibility of growing Avanti from a service-lift-and-ladders-with-fall-protection manufacturer into a full-line tower-internals-kit-set manufacturer, system integrator, aftermarket services with core focus on safety inspections and certifications, user training and a GWO training facility in Franklin, Wisconsin.
What are some of the services and products Avanti specializes in?
Service lifts, or should I say wind-turbine elevators (WTEs) as they are now called in the U.S. market, is what made Avanti set up a U.S. corporation in 2006. Through the last decade, we have steadily grown our install base of WTEs to more than 3,500 in the U.S. alone, with many of our products made here in Wisconsin.
As the different state elevator authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) require annual inspections of the WTE installations, we have had the honor and responsibility of ensuring these installations are safe every time a technician needs to get to the top of the turbine and back down again.
Over time, our customers have told us that they would like for us to inspect other safety systems while we are in the tower. We have been more than pleased to offer extra safety services, since that is what we are great at. Our group of traveling safety professionals is highly trained in safety inspection and certifications.
By conducting more than just inspections of the WTE, we save the owner down time, less mobilization, less safety orientations, and fewer contractors to qualify. The owner obtains a uniform set of safety inspection forms, maintenance control plans, and safety certificates, all accessible and stored securely in cloud-based and backed-up servers.
What goes into a turbine inspection?
In most turbine towers, you have the following safety systems/safety equipment that, either by code requirement or by the manufacturer requirements, must be inspected by a competent person annually or periodically: elevator, climb assistance, suspension beams, guard rails/fences, anchor points, ladder, fall protection, rescue kit, emergency lighting, chain hoist, grounding straps, fire extinguishers/suppression, manhole covers/hatches, walking surfaces, edge protection, not to mention some of the critical safety items that, over time, get affected materially by use, temperature, vibration, environment, and general wear and tear.
Do different countries have different standards?
Yes, so, for example, the inspection criteria of a chain hoist are different in the U.S. vs. Germany vs. Australia.
Most turbines have approximately 18 different safety systems just in the tower, and that requires our Avanti safety professionals to understand and be able to inspect and certify per the local code requirements, as we are a global wind company.
What areas has Avanti pioneered to increase turbine maintenance efficiency?
Maintaining a safe work environment does not mean that you cannot save money at the same time.
Having an elevator in a tower, for example, has, by itself proven to have a reasonable return on investment for several owners and OEMs, allowing for a safe, fast, and efficient way to eliminate the dreadful 80- to 140-meter climb several times a day plus a potential bonus climb when something is forgotten up- or down-tower.
During the first annual inspection, we typically find a lot of “kinks” in the installed systems needing repair, replacement, and adjustments following the fast-paced construction schedule, but with a consistent and annual inspection program, we focus on predictive and preventative maintenance and subsequently find spare parts and service time for repairs have a significant drop year over year. A large wind farm in Ohio saw an 83-percent drop in WTE maintenance running cost over just three years of annual inspections.
The wind-farm employees often comment that it’s like getting back into a clean car after an oil change; it just runs and feels better and makes less noise. Overall, a safe, clean, and professional work environment breeds better work ethic, higher motivation, and overall improves the quality of the wind turbine. This ultimately leads to greater uptime for the owner, and it is this additional uptime that can be measured on the bottom line.
What is Avanti ONE?
Avanti ONE is the brand of our all-encompassing safety certification program. We have been offering Avanti ONE in the U.S. market for three years and now have more than 35 U.S. wind farms with multi-year contracts for performing a variety of Avanti ONE inspections. Some contracts range from four inspections per tower to all safety components.
Where do you see the wind industry headed in 2017 and beyond?
The trend we see in the U.S. wind industry in terms of safety is a maturing market with even higher safety standards and safety expectations from the owners, turbine OEMs, and AHJs.
We also see more towers in the 80- to 120-meter range needing larger capacity and faster elevators.
While that is safer and more efficient for all the workers, we also see the marketplace expecting suppliers to become more efficient in order to lower the annual maintenance cost in a market with focus on turbine uptime, while maintaining ISO OHSAS 18001 or a similar safety-quality management system.
As we wrap up here, I would like to thank EDP Renewables for a superiorly organized, second annual safety day conducted at the Meadow Lakes Wind Farm in Indiana. My personal hope for the wind industry is that all wind-farm owners keep safety as high on the agenda as what I experienced that week. It was a fun and fact-filled safety day that left the techs, executives, OEMs, contractors, and suppliers very safety accomplished.
Avanti was recently acquired by Alimak Group, who is Alimak?
Alimak Group is a world-leading provider of vertical-access solutions for industrial and construction industries. With a presence in more than 100 countries, Alimak develops, manufactures, sells, and provides services to vertical access solutions with focus on adding customer value through greater safety, higher productivity, and improved cost efficiency. The Group´s products and solutions are sold under the brands Alimak Hek, CoxGomyl, Manntech, and Avanti. Alimak has an installed base of more than 60,000 elevators, hoists, platforms, service lifts, and building-maintenance units around the world. Founded in Sweden in 1948, Alimak has its headquarters in Stockholm, 12 manufacturing facilities in eight countries, and 2,400 employees around the world. www.alimakgroup.com
Eleven students from across the country have spent the last six months, five days a week for eight hours a day in Kalamazoo, Michigan, at the nation’s leading training program for wind-turbine technicians. On June 16, the 10 men and one woman walked the stage at Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Groves Center as graduates of the intensive training program.
The competency-based Wind Turbine Technician Academy provides a fast track to jobs that are in demand and pay high wages. Kalamazoo Valley offers the course as a non-credit, full-time program allowing students the chance to be job-ready in less than six months. Focused on specific, hands-on competencies, the training model moves students from the classroom to the learning labs and into the field quickly.
Graduates include:
Shelby Beeghly of Newport, Rhode Island.
Pierre Camp of Novato, California.
Ram Dealy of Middletown, Connecticut.
Reily Janson of Boulder, Colorado.
Oleksandr Karatsyuba of Elkhart, Indiana.
Chris McCollough of Titusville, New Jersey.
Nick Norton of Battle Creek, Michigan.
Nick Ruby of Scottville, Michigan.
Brian Seklecki of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Robert Strong of Hopkins, Minnesota.
Tanner Swartz of Plymouth, Indiana.
The program requires graduates to achieve 100 percent success in meeting industry standards in core areas of qualification. The graduates must successfully complete written assessments, practical examinations in the lab, and demonstrate their capabilities in the field.
More than 96 percent of Wind Turbine Technician Academy alumni work in the wind industry, with the majority accepting offers for employment prior to graduation. The Academy is offered twice a year, in January and July.
Jim Patterson, manager of the FAA’s airport safety R&D section at the William J Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, talks about obstruction lighting control for wind turbines.
FAA Manager Jim Patterson says obstruction lighting control has some good benefits for the wind industry.
Lundquist: There are some people who object to the wind-turbine aircraft warning lights at night. There is technology that allows the lights to remain off unless an aircraft approaches. What can you tell me about the status of the FAA approving solutions for aircraft warning-light controls for wind farms?
Patterson: Back several years ago, the FAA was first approached by a Norwegian company called OCAS, which stood for Obstruction and Collision Avoidance System. They had a relationship with the FAA regarding some lighting at power-line crossings probably going back 10 years ago or so. So we were familiar with this company, OCAS. The company was very involved at the local level in a lot of these wind-rich states where they knew that wind-turbine vendors would be hunting for property on which they could build their turbines. And what ultimately happened is the company was able to convince a lot of these local municipalities to write into their siting criteria that anybody who wants to build a wind turbine within their jurisdiction must use an OCAS-type system. And that caused a lot of problems at that point because OCAS had not yet demonstrated to the FAA that its technology was even worthy of performing the task. A lot of local municipalities made these agreements, put it into their local laws, and then once they did, they found out the FAA had not even looked at any of these vendors, and there were no vendors to select from. And so a lot of people have been waiting anxiously for us to finish our research, so they know who the approved vendors are. The FAA is not making these mandatory. They’re not an FAA system. We simply provided, through our research, a set of performance standards, so if a wind-turbine developer were to incorporate one of these technologies into their obstruction-lighting plan, then we would want it to perform in a manner such that we have stated in our advisory Circular 70/7460-1L.
Lundquist: Vermont’s Renewable Energy Bill (S.260/Act 174) of June 9, 2016, states: “Where required by the Federal Aviation Administration, wind-energy facilities with four or more turbines must have radar-controlled obstruction lights.”
Patterson: Since I’m in Atlantic City and kind of a betting man, I would bet that OCAS probably had something to do with that back a couple years ago. I just want to make it clear that the FAA in no way is making this mandated or a requirement. We have the rules, and if you’re going do it, this is how you do it. And depending on the wind turbine’s proximity to any low-altitude flying route or airport, we may have to disapprove obstruction lighting control just based on the obstruction’s location. So it’s important to know that not all applications will be approved — it is very site-specific.
A Terma SCANTER 5000 radar installed at Denmark’s national test center for large wind turbines in Oesterild in the Northern part of Denmark. Terma’s radar solution obtained final approval from the Danish authorities for a five-year operational test period. Terma’s obstruction lighting control radar is one of two approved by the FAA. (Courtesy: Terma)
Lundquist: Which systems are approved?
Patterson: We did conduct an evaluation of OCAS’ system at a wind-turbine farm up in Talbot, Ontario. We went up there to evaluate one of OCAS’ systems they installed. And we conducted our evaluation using a helicopter, and we found the detection distance wasn’t quite what we were looking for. It was only able, at that time, to detect us about a mile and a half out. We felt that at a reasonable speed you could expect from a small general-aviation aircraft traveling that close to the ground, that it wasn’t enough time for a pilot to acquire the lights, recognize what he or she is looking at, and take the evasive action to avoid the obstruction. So we started doing work to back that up and found three miles is the requirement we have for forward visibility for visual flight rules. That ties to everything the FAA has ever looked at historically — the pilot needs about three miles to acquire something, understand, process what it is, and then move the aircraft to avoid it. With that three-mile distance in mind, we worked with a company called Laufer Wind Group out of New York City, and we were able to facilitate an evaluation of their technology with the Department of Energy at the National Renewable Energy Lab, or NREL, in Boulder, Colorado. Laufer was able to install its sensors on some prototype wind turbines out in Boulder, and we used an aircraft to fly and validate the system to prove it met the standards we had put down. We published that report on our website. We also started working with a company called Terma on their obstruction lighting control, or OLC. The company has heavy ties to military, and its technology is quite proven for port and harbor protection in its ability to find small vessels, ships, and any type of movement that might be on a body of water. It’s a long-range sensor, and a little bit bigger than the Laufer system as far as the sensor requirements. But all-in-all, we were able to facilitate a demonstration of that out in Mojave, California. That solution has been approved, and that report is now published and available on our website as well. So, as of right now, we’ve got two technologies out there: the Laufer system and the Terma system. Those research reports are finished and available on our website.
Lundquist: There’s another company, DeTect, which claims to be approved.
Patterson: They are not yet approved, so to speak. We have been working closely with them, and we actually conducted our evaluation right in northern New Jersey, up in Andover. We actually just completed our flight test on a power-line crossing with them just a few months ago, and that report is still being worked on. So once we’re done with that, their report will be out, and they would be the third approved vendor.
Green Mountain Power (GMP), a utility serving 265,000 customers in Vermont, wanted to install obstruction lighting control radar when its 21 turbines at Lowell Mountain began generating power five years ago. The turbines have eight aircraft warning lights to meet FAA requirements. (Courtesy: Edward Lundquist)
Lundquist: Any others?
Patterson: OCAS ended up being acquired by Vestas North America — one of the largest wind-turbine companies out there. They have a new team of engineers that has totally overhauled the system and has corrected all of the issues. So we were able to successfully negotiate with them to try to come up with a test site and were invited over to Braderup, Germany, to conduct our performance assessment. We were successful with our effort in Germany, and as of right now, we are working with the vendor to facilitate an installation here in the U.S. so we can verify the system meets our domestic frequency requirements. We’re trying to be accommodating. We already have completed the report with data and information from the assessment in Germany and will plug in the remaining information when it becomes available. Once done, Vestas will be the fourth approved vendor.
So as of right now — I hate to use this term — we only have four vendors on our radar.
Lundquist: Thank you. Any last thoughts?
Patterson: Obstruction lighting control has some good benefits. It prevents birds from being attracted to our FAA obstruction lighting, so it’s got a very positive impact on wildlife. And it helps the nearby communities to be more acceptable to renewable energy. And we’ve proven that it still has the range we need to keep aircraft safe and let pilots still see the same lighting configuration they would see with or without the technology. It could be considered a more expensive “switch” to turn the aircraft warning lights on and off, and that’s true, but it seems to be a solution that’s really helping all parties involved.
It was also great to be able to put a face to a name (and an email) of all the awesome and friendly people I’ve gotten to know through their contributions to Wind Systems.
“And we have full-system solutions that we can develop,” he said. “One of our key value propositions is that we develop our products with customers. We don’t just have a line that we developed 70 years ago, and say, ‘use this; use this.’ We are always coming out with new products.”
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