The world has come to an interesting intersection. We need more renewable energy just as the aging wind turbine infrastructure, made up of many assets that are decades old, is beginning to underperform. However, replacing turbines is costly and regulations have changed making new installations more complex. So, power producers are looking to other options. In most cases, retrofitting the turbine control system is the most efficient and cost-effective option.
Emerson’s Thomas Andersen, a leading expert on wind turbine control, shares that view in his recent article in Wind Systems magazine. He explains that many power generators need better access to their data than their aging OEM turbine control systems can offer,
“Trapped data is nearly as valuable as the turbines’ energy output because it is critical to long-term operational excellence. A power generator without adequate condition-monitoring visibility operates at the whims of an external organization, typically an OEM, and it is beholden to its pricing structure, service timelines, and asset reporting and monitoring strategies.”
Emerson can replace nearly any legacy OEM control system with its own modern Ovation Green wind control system as a fast and easy retrofit. One of the other key benefits, Thomas explains, is the ability to add an integrated condition monitoring system (CMS) as part of the retrofit, liberating even more data for enhanced control options.
Data is king
With more and more players getting into the sustainable energy market, understanding asset health for more predictable, reliable operations is critical to maintaining competitive advantage. Knowing the health of assets empowers teams to be more efficient and flexible in their operations—a critical differentiator in a market dependent on variable weather conditions. Often, however, the CMS available on legacy systems—if any CMS exists—is controlled by the OEM, who charge for the data they are willing to share. As a result, with a legacy CMS, or worse, no CMS at all, power generators are typically running blind.
“Without adequate data, operations and maintenance teams cannot track and trend performance to help identify patterns of weak components or poorly functioning assets. If a team relies solely on its OEM for performance and health data — with an associated fee each time — it is unlikely to see if a part wears out after 10 years, rather than the 20 years it should have lasted, nor be able to identify such a trend across multiple identical assets in the fleet. Without this type of data, teams will likely never know if failures are due to operational factors or mechanical design errors.”
Integration drives efficiency
Installing a CMS as part of a retrofit is an easy add-on. Emerson’s condition monitoring tools are seamlessly integrated with the control system so teams can easily correlate control and reliability data to make more informed decisions. They can identify where control strategies can be adjusted to extend asset life, and to improve planning when heading into maintenance outages. But most importantly, they can shift operations alongside changing environmental conditions. Thomas explains,
“When teams can track and trend asset health alongside operational data, they can implement new, dynamic strategies based on changing conditions — especially the fluctuating price of the energy market. For example, a team with access to the right data may be willing to allow extra wear and tear on turbines when the price per kilowatt-hour is high. The team can either set automatic strategy changes in the control system, or they can perform manual changes based on feedback from the green SCADA software.”
Savings across the lifecycle
Not only is Emerson’s Ovation Green CMS able to bring value during operations and maintenance, but it is also faster and more cost-effective to implement than a standalone solution. Because the CMS is just a module that plugs into the new control system, it can be included as part of the retrofit, eliminating the need for additional infrastructure like servers, switches, cabling, and other networking equipment. In fact, Thomas explains, equivalent standalone systems are typically three to four times more expensive than Emerson’s integrated solution.
Thomas goes into more depth in his full article over at Wind Systems. There you’ll read practical examples and learn more ways an integrated CMS can drive more overall value, flexibility, and profitability in green energy operations.
The post Liberate Data for Better Wind Power Operations appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.