Archives: Exclusive Articles

Extra Life

Words: Petri Aho, Senior Vice President, Service Sales EMEA & APAC. This year Moventas launched a new suite of services called Extra Life. Extra Life suites incorporate gearbox services for the most popular, aging fleets, namely GE, Siemens and kilowatt class turbines. By removing known failure modes and replacing them with core Moventas technologies, gearbox… Read more »

Why OEMs, Operators Opt for Ultracapacitors in Wind Pitch Control

Words: Wolfgang Beez, Sr. Marketing and Business Development Manager – Wind Systems, Maxwell Technologies Wolfgang Beez is senior business portfolio manager wind for the group and works closely with wind operators to integrate ultracapacitor wind pitch control retrofit systems in wind farms across the globe. Ultracapacitors – the fast-responding, power-packed energy storage devices that have… Read more »

Safety at dizzying heights

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 »

Testing Times

Words: Thomas Arnold, Team Leader Measurements and Technical Testing for Wind Energy Turbines, TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH Treading a path to and from the filing cabinet is all part of the daily routine of many wind farm owners and operators. Many details of the condition of their wind farm can only be found there…. Read more »

THE VOLE AU VENT

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 »

Equipment rental – a better option

PES caught up with Michael Halberg Sørensen, CEO of HeliPPE, to find out how the company started. He talks about the benefits, in terms of cost savings and safety, of hiring personal protective equipment (PPE) for helicopter transport. PES: Welcome to PES Wind magazine. Thanks for talking with us. Would you like to begin by… Read more »

Does wind energy still need certification?

Words: Kim Mørk, Executive Vice President of Renewables Certification, DNV GL Energy The wind power industry has changed massively over the last 10-15 years. New concepts, technologies and devices have arisen and certification has played an essential role in bringing these developments to market. But today the wind industry is much more mature, and the… Read more »

Cable solutions

DONG Energy awarded DEME’s subsidiary Tideway cable installation contract for the Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm. PES investigates to find out why and introduces readers to the ‘Living Stone’. Early June this year, Tideway BV, Breda, the Netherlands, a subsidiary of the Belgian dredging, environmental and marine engineering group DEME, was awarded a cable… Read more »

WindEnergy Hamburg

PES brings you a preview from the leading international wind energy expo, which expects more than 1,200 exhibitors. It is the largest international business platform onshore and offshore and reflects the global market and the whole of the value chain. It is the meeting point for decision makers from all parts of the world. Hopefully… Read more »

Offshore – Learning by doing

Offshore terminals are the most important interfaces during the construction of wind farms off the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas. Many wind farms have been created in recent years and more are already in the planning stages. The Hamburg-based company Buss Port Logistics (Buss) recognised the opportunities early on, and with their own… Read more »

Cutting edge blades

PES caught up with Ryan Lauridsen, CEO at Bladena to find out about the latest developments in blade technology. An important issue in our industry.. PES: Welcome to PES Wind magazine. Thanks for talking with us. Would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of your organisation and how you currently… Read more »

A never ending story

In the late 1990s, Hermann Albers, president of the German Wind Energy Association, was already pointing out that existing networks would not manage to accommodate the growing supply of green power. “Instead of taking action, grid operators began new planning, much too late because they didn’t believe in the success of renewables”, he frequently complained…. Read more »

4 in to 1 makes ALL NRG

Ken Søerensen, CEO at ALL NRG, dropped in to tell us about the developments at the company. More companies are likely to join ALL NRG in the future, providing easier contacts for the customer. He is looking forward to a boom over the next two years. PES: Welcome to PES Wind magazine. Thanks for talking… Read more »

Storing the sun

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 »

Cost efficacy in a difficult time

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 »

Micro grids change lives

Micro grids are having a big impact on remote areas of the world. Romina Arcamone Garcia, Market Manager, Renewable Energy & Backup Power at Trojan Battery Co., LLC explains to PES how 24/7 energy is now possible in these areas. The establishment of off-grid networks, also known as mini grids or micro grids, around the… Read more »

Essential durability

PES caught up with Simon Schandert, Director of Production, Technology Development and Technical Support, at the industrial storage manufacturer TESVOLT, to find out about storage for businesses. There is optimism in the air for the future of our industry and a change in philosophy… PES: Welcome back to PES Solar/PV magazine. Thanks for talking with… Read more »

Exploring the power of the sun

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 »

The importance of PV-monitoring

Monitoring is omitted in so many PV plants and yet it is an easy, affordable way to detect errors quickly and avoid yield losses. PES hears from Dr. Frank Schlichting, CEO of Solare Datensysteme GmbH, about how Solar-Log™ can save the PV plant operators energy losses, time and money. PES: The concept of monitoring is… Read more »

Thin film PV revival

With module efficiencies increasing and costs decreasing in thin film PV, it seemed the perfect opportunity for PES to discover more from Michael van der Gugten, Sales and Marketing Executive, Smit Thermal Solutions. Here’s why he thinks the thin film revival is underway… PES: Welcome back to PES Solar. Smit Thermal Solutions is a new… Read more »

Leading inverters

Eleonora Denna, Product Marketing Manager for Environmental Solution Business EMEA, Omron, explains to PES about their commitment to the PV business. Omron are in many markets world-wide with their inverters. The company moves with the times, adjusting to new demands. The Omron inverter was chosen for the Antalya Football Arena. It is an exciting time… Read more »

Top of the class connectors

Over a billion connectors from the Multi-Contact Solarline range have been providing reliable connections all over the world since 1996. This represents a PV output of over 120 GW – almost impossible to believe. Matthias Mack, Head of Photovoltaics at Multi-Contact, explains to PES how this important milestone was achieved in a highly volatile market environment. PES:… Read more »

PV Generation

Words: Min Qin, FAE, MORNSUN The Paris 2015 Global Climate conference achieved a carbon emission reduction agreement that is legally binding and practical to all parties, which further propel the development and popularity of the new green energy technology, e.g. photovoltaic industry, wind power. In 2015, China passed the Economic and Social Development 13th Five-Year… Read more »

It’s all in the measurement

Words: André Richter, Business Developer Technology, Meyer Burger Technology Ltd High efficiency, high performance – achieving these levels requires expenditure and commitment. This report investigates the measurement technology required. In recent decades, the use of photovoltaics (PV) has become increasingly widespread. In 2016 more than 200 GW of solar modules have already been installed worldwide…. Read more »

Monitoring expansion

Dr. Daniel Faltermeier, Managing Director at meteocontrol North America, talks to PES about the unique solutions they are able to offer due to their wide range of services. He is very positive about the future and the internationalisation of the company is part of the reason for this… PES: Welcome back to PES Solar/PV magazine…. Read more »

Simply recycling with light

Words: Dr. Wolfram Palitzsch, Loser Chemie GmbH Loser Chemie is developing high quality, cutting edge recycling technology especially for the photovoltaic industry. The recycling of this waste is important from a political, economic and environmental perspective. Loser Chemie GmbH (LC) was a chemical company whose main business was in water chemistry. Recently Mr. Loser restructured… Read more »

Simply accurate

PES met up with Ruud Ringoir, Product Manager at Kipp & Zonen and asked him about the current solar energy market. He was very enthusiastic about their new, all in one solar monitoring system, the RaZON+. It’s easy to use, affordable and low maintenance….. PES: Welcome back to PES Solar/PV magazine. It’s great to talk… Read more »

Lowering LCOE with 1500V DC

While several new power plant installations still focus on old DC technology, Jurchen Technology enhances its BoS product lines. Their unwavering vision is to establish Solar PV Power as our international basic power supply. Michael Jurchen, CEO and founder of Jurchen Technology, explains why to PES. PES: Welcome back to PES Solar/PV magazine. It’s great… Read more »

OCTOPUS

Frank Juergens, Director Sales & Marketing at INDEOtec SA, tells us more about the innovative top and bottom side deposition concept of the OCTOPUS system… Motivation High-efficiency solar cells of the heterojunction or IBC type, which are composed of bulk crystalline silicon and thin film layers, have the potential to gain a substantial share in… Read more »

Pyranometer innovators

Kees van den Bos, Director of Hukseflux Thermal Sensors, dropped in to PES to tell us about the latest developments in solar radiation sensors and the quest to take measurement to the next level. We started off by talking about how it all started… PES: Welcome to PES Solar/PV magazine. It’s great to talk with… Read more »

Multi Flow Technology

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 »

All pumped up

Eric Taberlet, President of the Business Unit Semiconductor & Coating at Pfeiffer Vacuum, joined us at PES to bring us up-to-date with their latest vacuum advances and ‘Green LabFab’ in France. PES: Welcome back to PES Solar/PV magazine. Thanks for talking with us. Would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background… Read more »

The power of energy storage

Exide Technologies is a global provider of stored electrical energy solutions, with operations in over 80 countries around the world. It manufactures and markets batteries for a wide range of applications, from cars to railroads and is an increasingly powerful player in the fast-growing energy storage market. Research by IHS says this industry is set… Read more »

Pyranometers – the next generation

100 years ago, the world was introduced to the first generation of pyranometers. These thermal hemispherical viewing devices measured the irradiance of the sun on a horizontal surface. Since that first generation, small design changes have been made to improve this state of the art technology. However, all of those changes have been incremental; small… Read more »

Same sun. More power.TM

n recent years, the solar industry has focused particularly on manufacturing capacity. However, if we want to meet the fast-growing future demand for renewable energy, just stepping up the volume will no longer be enough. This is why multinational Royal DSM N.V. focuses on adding value to the industry through innovations that make solar panels… Read more »

DER certification

Words: Bernd Hinzer, Principal Engineer and Head of Section Grid Code Compliance and Tobias Gehlhaar Principal Engineer, DNV GL Utility grid interconnection requirements for distributed generation, including solar, have been evolving to support higher levels of penetration. The new requirement that Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) have to meet according to IEEE 1547 requires verification that… Read more »