It’s not surprising that with the modern focus on renewable energy, discussions around wind turbines have been common at Emerson’s 2024 Ovation Users Group. Fortunately, there has been plenty of content for the people looking to pursue or improve their own wind generation operations. One standout was Ole Binderup’s presentation on wind turbine optimization—a critical concern as producers around the globe address aging wind power infrastructure.
“Some of these old controls are 15 to 20 years old, but we retrofit them because we know we can operate so much longer than the standard lifetime. These turbines can be optimized with smarter control and newer, more modern features to mitigate some load situations.”
New challenges arrive alongside new opportunities
Ole shared some of the many challenges today’s wind producers are facing. One key problem they must overcome is outdated control. At many sites, aging control systems are stifling performance due to non-optimal parameter settings and old, outdated control strategies. Unfortunately, with the limited access to data provided by legacy control systems, these problems can be difficult to remedy.
“We know that the owners of the turbines have very limited access to the data and parameters of their turbines. By exchanging the control system, we give the owners access to the logic and the parameters they need to improve performance.”
In addition, yaw and pitch misalignment often lead to significant underperformance as well. Bad mounting of the wind vane and poor blade installation or inaccurate zero-degree reference marking can lead to significantly less output. In addition, over time, contaminant accumulation and erosion can occur at the leading edge, causing a negative impact on power production. And if any of these problems are combined with a poor original site assessment, the impact in lost production can be staggering.
Existing equipment, new opportunities
Fortunately, Ole explained, much can be done to improve performance without entirely replacing the turbines. He offered two primary solutions for improving aging and underperforming assets. First, many organizations are pursuing electrical pitch solutions. Emerson’s Ovation Pitch System, he explained, provides a cost-effective, compact, cutting-edge technology based on decades of expertise from turbines running globally.
“We have created a more optimal design with a way lower weight, so when you have an issue, you just have a spare part on the blade unit or energy storage, you can exchange it, and bring the bad one down and do the analysis on the ground while the turbine continues to operate. Debugging when you are in the nose of a turbine is quite hard.”
In addition, many wind providers are also improving their performance through wind turbine retrofits. With nearly any existing turbine, Emerson can perform a complete wind turbine control system retrofit quickly and easily, providing the asset owner significantly more visibility into performance and control of operations. Teams gain granular control over control strategy modifications, improved availability, and can typically include wind turbine condition monitoring in the retrofit for better management of long-term turbine health.
“By adding newer and smarter control to the turbine we can mitigate some of the risks and extra loads on the turbine with modern control strategies.”
Emerson has a long track record of developing and commissioning plug and play retrofit solutions for wind turbines, and the retrofit process has proven to ensure seamless and structured installation of new and improved automation, delivering immediate customer value and fast return on investment.
