New project could bring down the price of offshore wind

The idea behind the £5 million project initiated by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is to develop and demonstrate systems that will monitor the condition and performance of offshore turbines and predict future maintenance requirements so they can be corrected before expensive damage occurs.

The ETI believes that early intervention of this kind could significantly increase output by reducing the turbines’ downtime, as well as cutting maintenance costs.

It estimates that the improved efficiencies could knock 0.5 pence per kilowatt hour off the price of energy generated from offshore turbines or, put another way, could result in a benefit of up to £50,000 per turbine per year.

According to ETI chief executive Dr David Clarke, offshore wind has huge potential to reduce UK carbon emissions and increase security of energy supply, however, the higher operation and maintenance costs associated with operating offshore remain a major barrier to widespread adoption.

“If turbines fail they can be difficult and costly to repair which is why it is important to spot potential damage or performance deterioration as early as possible,” he said.

“The ETI has brought together the best expertise to develop a system to monitor the condition of wind turbines which should increase their availability and lead to lower generation costs.”

The project will be led by UK-based wind turbine blade monitoring specialists Insensys in partnership with EDF Energy, E.ON, Romax Technology, SeeByte and Strathclyde University, and will monitor all aspects of a turbine including the blades, bearings, gearbox, generator, power electronics and support structures.

“Energy generated from onshore wind turbines is now competitively priced with fossil fuels, but offshore wind is not there yet,” said Insensys cep Dr Toby King.

“We believe that this project will increase the output and reliability of wind turbines by detecting the causes of component damage and enabling them to be corrected, before the damage occurs. For example, many turbines today operate with blade imbalances which can rapidly lead to expensive gearbox and bearing damage, and yet are easy to correct.”

A spokesperson for the ETI said the project will run for three-and-a-half years, after which it is hoped that the systems will be commercially viable. The first two years will be given over to the development of systems software, models and maps, followed by 18 months of testing the systems on onshore wind turbines, to run alongside a year of testing on offshore wind turbines.

The ETI is a UK based company which brings together private members – including BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, E.ON, Rolls-Royce and Shell – and the UK Government, with the aim of developing projects and partnerships that create affordable, reliable, clean energy for heat, power and transport.