PES investigates how the Altura Zenith unmanned aerial system performs at sea in high winds, as Aerialtronics announces separate radical technical developments with NVIDIA and the IBM Watson Internet of Things Platform on the cloud. Overcoming gales to inspect wind turbines in the Baltic Sea is one reason why Euro Drone Inspections use the Altura… Read more »
Up until recently in the wind industry, the aim of many players when affecting the choice of technology seemed to be based on making the wind turbine as cheaply as possible. PES gets a different perspective from Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen, President and CEO of The Switch. “We believe looking only at upfront costs is extremely short-sighted,”… Read more »
Universal Transport is driving energy transition forward. The transport of components for wind turbine plants requires a vast amount of intensive preparation; the 70m long rotor blades, especially, create a real challenge. This kind of job is all in a days’ work at Universal Transport, one of the leading contractors in the area of large… Read more »
PES discovers the Limpet height safety system, with its Intelligent Climb Assist feature, which includes rescue, evacuation and fall arrest. It provides assisted climbs, no matter your weight, saves maintenance time, down times and in the case of an accident – critical time. “At the top of a wind turbine in France, Gregory, a senior… Read more »
PES brings you the latest on JAN DE NUL’S INSTALLATION SHIP, THE VOLE AU VENT. A jack-up vessel specifically built for work on wind farms. Read on to find out more. On Tuesday September 15th 2016, JAN DE NUL and NOBELWIND will sign the first offshore wind contract for JAN DE NUL’s installation ship, VOLE… Read more »
Words: Jayesh Goyal, Chief Commercial Officer, Younicos With both PV and battery costs in equally steady and spectacular decline, solar photovoltaics (PV) plus storage is generating a lot of attention. Indeed, with PV bids coming in at record lows in both sunny ($0.03/kWh in Morocco and Dubai) and not-so-sunny regions (¤0.08 in Germany), storing the… Read more »
Words: Steven Hughes, Global Asset Management Director for RES Standardisation is needed in our industry to keep costs down and avoid discrepancies. Asset management and O&M can help save costs and counteract inefficiencies. April 2016 was a momentous month for solar energy in the UK. For the first time ever, more power was generated by… Read more »
There is a dark cloud hanging over solar energy. Despite frequent government pushes for wider adoption of renewable power sources, progress in recent years has been relatively slow. Here, Steve Hughes, managing director of power quality expert REO UK, explains there may be a way to part the clouds in solar energy. Since the mid-1990s,… Read more »
Words: Franz Breitwieser, Product Manager, Fronuis International The trend in recent years of rising electricity prices and the falling costs of photovoltaic (PV) systems mean that the cost of generating electricity from PV is now significantly lower than the purchase price of electricity. With feed-in tariffs falling steadily at the same time, it is becoming… Read more »
The new converter technology and the silver-plated CVD-reactors from Silicon Products Bitterfeld GmbH & Co.KG (SPB), lead to a substantial contribution regarding reduced production costs and higher quality of silicon produced by standard Siemens process. This article presents the latest development and technology in the production and purification of trichlorosilane (TCS) and converter technology developed… Read more »
Reliable wireless communication is something people around the globe demand from their service providers. With many telecom network sites located in remote areas where no grid access is possible, or access to the grid is unreliable, alternative power sources are making inroads. Here’s how Trojan is leading the way… To power remote telecom towers in… Read more »
Benchmarking exercise of predicted and actual production losses based on SCADA data (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition). Régis Decoret presents his findings to PES. The need for post construction performance assessmentIt’s nothing new: wind energy is a capital intensive business, meaning that wind farm developers need a significant capital over a short period of time… Read more »
Extending the life of wind turbines is a preoccupation of our industry today. Ángela Angulo, TWI Ltd, tells PES how the TOWERPOWER project will help wind farm owners, operators and insurers collect extremely valuable data. As EU energy policy calls for 20% of the EU’s 3,040 Terra Watt hours per year electricity demand to come… Read more »
Deutsche Windtechnik Offshore und Consulting GmbH explains to PES how it is possible for them to offer an excellent maintenance service whilst keeping the costs down. They do this by providing a variety of individual service packages through synergies and flexibility…. Maintenance work on offshore wind farms can be a real cost factor for operators…. Read more »
Minute inspection of turbines, particularly the blades and rigorous data collection using the GEV Habitat means it’s possible to work through all weather. This contributes to proactive O&M and therefore to cost reduction in our industry. We were at a conference for off-shore wind in Boston recently (the US is a core and expanding market… Read more »
Growing competition and cost pressure have prompted some companies to delay modernisation projects and new purchases. This decision, while causing a short-term drop in operating costs, will lead to higher operational risks. New maintenance strategies promise high savings potential. However, for power plants and systems in the process industry there is no ‘one size fits… Read more »
Klaus Hirzel, CEO at Lufft Mess- und Regeltechnik GmbH, questions why turbine manufacturers have never asked suppliers for their ideal set of environmental sensors…. Taller, more extreme, more reliable: in parallel with the increasing requirements on wind turbines, the demands on wind sensors for the monitoring and maintenance of the systems are also on the… Read more »
Major forces test wind turbine drivetrains, the long-term reliability of which requires special materials meant for significant wear. Case carburizing ensures a competitive solution for lifetime costs of gearboxes’ planetary stages. Jari Toikkanen, Manager of Moventas’ Conceptual Design & Analysis team, explains more… In a wind turbine gearbox, the greatest torque goes through the planetary… Read more »
With the capacity to supply 800,000 homes with electricity and the promise of creating 2,500 local jobs as well as millions of pounds’ worth of investment to the UK’s economy, the creation of a wind farm in Hornsea is good news for the UK. PES turns to DONG Energy to find out more… In 2010,… Read more »
Fred. Olsen Windcarrier prepares for the next generation of offshore wind farms. Since the earliest offshore wind farm was installed just over 20 years ago, the offshore wind industry has been characterised by continuous improvement and innovation as firms at all junctures along the supply chain have leapt at the challenge to contribute to reducing… Read more »
It’s March 2016 and Virtual Reality is becoming more and more visible. Facebook buying Oculus Rift for 2 billion dollars made everyone realize this could be the next big thing. And not only Facebook is investing. Big companies – like Google and Samsung – are developing both hard- and software for Virtual Reality. Even small… Read more »
Klaus Georg Hansen, Principal Engineer at DNV GL Renewables Certification – Energy explains how it is possible to save costs and maximize return by extending the life of wind turbine and wind farms… Extension of the operating life can be highly interesting for operators, investors and manufacturers in order to maximize the profitability of their… Read more »
We are delighted to welcome back Dr. Milne to PES for this insightful piece about what is arguably the most expensive piece of offshore real estate in Europe right now – with the Isle of Man at the commercial epicentre. The Isle of Man is a strategically situated island located in the middle of the… Read more »
Do you know what to look for when choosing an asset manager to look after your renewable portfolios? Emily White, managing director of Entap, suggests some key questions that operators and investors should ask. She questions whether asset managers always focus on the things that investors and fund managers really care about. According to Wikipedia,… Read more »
The weather factor in portfolio diversification and asset management – a Vaisala study. The year of 2015 has undoubtedly been one of challenge for many U.S. wind project operators. In terms of performance, the first quarter was one of the lowest on record for large portions of the country with some areas seeing wind speeds… Read more »
This month, Dr Stephen Breslin, CEO of Glasgow Science Centre, announced the UK’s first ever coalition of industry and policy-makers to create an exhibition that aims to raise public awareness of the energy challenges that we face and engage in the debate on how to solve them. When it launches in December, Powering the Future… Read more »
Investors in European renewable energy projects face the greatest regulatory risk in Spain, followed by Italy, say the respected financial analysts, Moody’s Investors Service. We present an exclusive extract from their latest report. BackgroundWhile Spain and Italy are presented with the toughest challenges, in contrast, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have strong regulatory frameworks,… Read more »
Experts in ecology survey innovation, marine consultancy and a host of other specialist legislative disciplines, Baker Consultants are becoming increasingly visible – and respected – in the wind energy arena. Here, they examine the growing influence of underwater noise. In recent years, following publication of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which requires EU… Read more »
A multi-sector recruitment specialist, Mane is a rising star in the offshore arena, and has enjoyed a particularly buoyant year thus far – driven chiefly by a reinvigorated European market. We found out a little more about the organisation’s wind energy credentials and took a look at its plans for future growth… BackgroundMane provides Technical… Read more »
For many years, Denmark has been at the forefront of wind technology, with manufacturers maintaining an edge on competitors through their long history in the industry. However, Danish wind power knows it has to constantly evolve and improve to keep its place at the top of the table. Denmark is home to many small and… Read more »
Fire is the second leading cause of accidents in wind turbines after blade failure, with the damage caused going far beyond purely financial. Now, the launch of a new fire protection standard will protect the rapidly growing energy industry from financial, economic and reputational risks. A new fire protection standard launched by DNV GL will… Read more »
EIVA is a pioneering Denmark-based company that provides software, hardware and integrated solutions for virtually any offshore task in the survey, construction and services industry. We asked one of the organisation’s technical experts to provide us with an in-depth look at how it meets the challenges of subsea visualisation. To ensure safe and efficient operation… Read more »
How do you install two 80 metre masts on a hill of rocky terrain in Norway? You enlist the experts. Here, Dulas Site Manager Bob Sharples recounts his experiences of being part of the team that took part in this fascinating and eye-opening recent project. With a history spanning over thirty years and experience of… Read more »
The PV market is growing, with an expected 58.3 GW to be installed in 2015. However, the installed assets and investments require constant, solid and traceable PV plant data monitoring in order to determine actual performance and fulfil owner/investor expectations. Juergen Sutterlueti of Gantner Instruments Environment Solutions GmbH, takes us through the issues. Photovoltaic project… Read more »
On a wider scale, Loser Chemie GmbH develops and distributes future-oriented and environment-friendly products, plants and processes that focus on a great many fields. One of the company’s particular niches, however, is the PV industry and it is currently pioneering the recycling of indium, gallium, tellurium, etc. from thin film photovoltaic waste. The company’s Dr…. Read more »
Recent advances in inverter technology and retrofit Balance of System components can ensure optimal PV performance in even the most challenging climatic environments. But just how much of a difference can this new tech make? Balance of System (BoS) technologies are developing rapidly to increase yields from PV plants which presents great opportunities for the… Read more »