The world has been harvesting wind as an energy source for a very long time. Don Quijote was “tilting at windmills” in the 17th century, long before anyone imagined a car, much less an electric one.
We’ve come a long way from simply using the wind to grind grain and pump water. Today, wind turbines dot the landscape across the globe, delivering low-cost, zero-emission energy to power a fully electrified society.
However, as Thomas Andersen explains in his recent article in Power magazine, the storied history of wind turbines around the world means that many of today’s operational assets are decades old. That age, he shares, comes with problems,
“They will be difficult to monitor and control because their legacy control systems and internal components will not perform to modern standards.”
Yesterday’s turbine today
Unfortunately, when turbines start to show their age through inefficient operation, it is usually not a simple task to replace them. In cases where a turbine can be fully replaced, the engineering and construction are costly and time consuming, but at least replacement is possible. In many sites, though, due to changing regulations over the decades, new construction is no longer possible.
“Fully replacing a legacy turbine is not only expensive; it is often impossible, as changing regulations have led to complex permitting requirements. Moreover, replacing a turbine means long downtime and lost production.”
In such a case, the solution is to make the existing turbine work or eliminate that source of generation altogether.
Many organizations are navigating this challenge by performing turbine retrofits. For nearly any turbine operating around the world, Emerson experts can retrofit the core components of the turbine to deliver better performance. It’s surprisingly fast and easy,
“As complex as the process sounds, highly experienced suppliers can perform a control system retrofit in one or two days for each turbine. These providers use out-of-the-box solutions predesigned for the most common wind turbine models across nearly every OEM. The new units are plug-and-play and are connected using adapters that plug directly into the legacy connectors in the existing cabinet. Neither the cabinet nor its wiring needs to be replaced.”
But more important than the speed and cost-effectiveness are the gains delivered.
Better service
Typically, companies operating legacy turbines find that as soon as their long-term service agreement ends, support quality degrades while prices go up. A control system retrofit brings the company back under a reliable, affordable maintenance agreement.
“Not only does the operator have someone to call to navigate complex issues, but if the control retrofit was performed by a provider with deep industry expertise, they will also have access to fast, effective response to get their turbines back in operation as quickly as possible.”
Moreover, the company has access to more affordable, available spare parts, helping reduce the likelihood that turbines stand idle while the maintenance team waits on parts delivery.
More data means better analysis
OEM turbine controls typically lack access to much of the data and knowledge available from turbine controls.
“An operations team may not have clear visibility into how the logic is working in a converter, or when and why the turbine is pitching in certain conditions. Or, the team may be receiving alarms, but they do not understand why or what to do, so they just reset the turbine or ignore the alarm. Most often this happens because logic was built over years into an OEM control system that operates as a black box, with limited or no access to the necessary information to understand what is happening.”
Emerson’s Ovation™ Green renewable asset management and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software provides full access to operations information for greater insights into equipment health and optimization opportunities. Teams can quickly and easily identify root causes of problems, track and trend issues, and even use built-in analysis tools to help change operating state of the turbine for better performance.
Make the most of what you have
Continuing to leverage existing assets is a key strategy for delivering as much value as possible. By leveraging turbine retrofits and modern software, organizations can deliver that same value while also promoting the operational excellence necessary to compete in a crowded marketplace, and in doing so, help meet the needs of an increasingly electrified society.
