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ENERGIX-Stort program energi

Tackling icing issues for wind energy production

Alternative title: Atmosfærisk ising på vindturbiner

Awarded: NOK 1.5 mill.

Project Number:

269436

Project Period:

2017 - 2020

Funding received from:

Partner countries:

Blade icing is a major issue for wind farms in cold climate areas, decreasing energy production and potentially reducing wind turbine generators (WTG) lifetime by increased vibrations and fatigue loads. The icing also leads to an increased HSE risk for the service personnel and visitors to the wind farm from ice thrown from the turbine blades. One of the underlying ideas of the project is to study solutions for blade heating system and to participate in the development of new innovative solutions to reduce the production losses and HSE risks caused by the iced blades. In this project a system to incorporate ice forecasts has been developed. From Kjeller Vindteknikks icing forecast system the turbine or turbine operator have access to data to better operate the blade heating system and thus optimize the removal of ice and avoid the icing influence on the energy production. Through many years IceLoss has been one of the most important products provided by Kjeller Vindteknikk and given the company a leading position in the market within wind power icing in Norway and abroad. In this project IceLoss has been developed and IceLoss2.0 has been released. This project has contributed by increasing the knowledge on blade heating systems and a module for calculating icing losses for turbines with blade heating installed. Blade icing causes an increased risk for the service personnel and visitors to the wind farm. During the latest years more requirements for new wind farm developments to assess this risk and suggest and implement mitigation measures has been established. Through this project our product IceRisk has been developed from a pilot tool to a commercial risk assessment product. IceRisk models the icing and calculate how far the turbines will throw this ice. Based on this risk zones are calculated which can be evaluated toward suggested risk acceptance criteria. Since the new requirements were established this has become a popular product. In 2019 Kjeller Vindteknikk produced 15 IceRisk reports for wind power projects in Norway, Sweden and Finland. The icing forecasts developed in this project is also provided as a product which has the potential to improve on the safety of the personnel working in the cold climate wind farms. This is an important aspect for the planning of service and maintenance in the wind farm and needs to be addressed in all wind farms operating in icing climates. This project has supported our work in IEA wind task 19 (Wind Energy in Cold Climates) where we have contributed to the development of the international recommendation for handling the risk of ice fall and ice throw from wind turbines. We have also collaborated with the national authorities (NVE) in the development of guidelines to be used for wind farms in Norway.

Gjennom prosjektet har vi bidratt til utvikling av nasjonal og internasjonal veileder som vindkraftutviklere må ta hensyn til ved utvikling av nye vindparker. På nasjonalt plan har dette fått et økt fokus de siste årene, noe som vi forventer vil bidra til å unngå ulykker knyttet til ising på vindkraftverk. For bedriften innebærer dette en økt oppdragsmengde for å kartlegge risiko for ising for nye vindkraftverk. Vi er bedre i stand til å gi gode anbefalinger til hvilke typer risikoreduserende tiltak som anbefales for de ulike vindparkene. Utvikling av prognoser for ising kan også benyttes som et risikoreduserende verktøy. Isingsprognoser har blitt introdusert i markedet og vi ser en klar etterspørsel etter dette produktet allerede, og forventer også en økning her etter som flere vindparker kommer i drift. Dette er også et operativt produkt som vil bidra til operative inntekter til firmaet gjennom vindkraftprosjektenes levetid.

Blade icing is a major issue for wind farms in cold climate areas, decreasing energy production (up to 15% and more on an annual basis depending on the site) and potentially reducing wind turbine generators (WTG) lifetime by increased vibrations and fatigue loads. According to IEA Wind approximately 127 GW (about 25 % of worldwide installed capacity) of the global wind capacity is installed in so called 'Cold Climate' areas (mainly Scandinavia, elevated areas of Central Europe, Canada, China and northern parts of the US), and further installations are foreseen in the next years at a rate of 12GW/year. The underlying idea of the project is to test an existing solution of a blade heating system in retrofit mode and to participate in the development of new innovative solutions to reduce the production losses caused by iced blades. This involves improving the detection of icing, the development of routines to use weather forecasts and icing forecasts in the operations of the heating system, gain knowledge on how the icing varies geographically and with height, both within a specific wind farm and on the regional scale to select the best heating solution for each specific turbine. Better knowledge about the dangers of ice throw and falling ice from the turbines and the possibility to forecast these events has the potential to improve on the safety of the personnel working in the cold climate wind farms and can be used as important criteria for the planning of service and maintenance in the wind farm. This project will be part of a EUROGIA2020 consortium that consists of the following partners: Kjeller Vindteknikk AS (Norway), EDF SA (France), EnginSoft (France), CNRS SATIE (France), VTT Technical Research Centre (Finland), Wicetec Oy (Finland), EDF Energies Nouvelles (Canada), TechnoCentre éolien (Canada) , Techéol inc (Canada) and Vent de l´Est Inc/East Coast Wind Inc (Canada).

Publications from Cristin

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Funding scheme:

ENERGIX-Stort program energi