The cost of energy governs the technical development of wind power plants. In designing and building the new generation of wind power plants, the goal is to achieve more energy while keeping the total costs as low as possible. The objective is to minimise the operating and servicing costs of the plant’s whole life cycle, as well as the building costs.
In the future, the rotor diameter of every type of wind power plant will increase, as will the height of the towers of land-based plants. Offshore plants will also be larger due to more powerful turbines.
However, increases in size also cause some technical challenges; for example, it must be possible to constantly change the angle of large rotor blades according to wind speed and direction. Gusts and wind direction can be measured in advance using, for example, a laser, and the turbine can be adjusted to avoid overload and to achieve optimal energy production.
The size of new wind turbines grows as their technology develops and building costs fall. With high-power turbines it makes sense to switch to direct drive technology, in which case the rotation speed of the generator and the rotor is the same and no gearbox is needed between them. This is particularly true of offshore plants, where servicing is difficult and expensive. In the future, the majority of these large 6–10 megawatt offshore plants will be built with direct drive technology which requires less maintenance, whereas the small wind power plants built on land still utilise the gearbox.
The designers of wind power plants must pay attention to the power plant’s network connection. If the network supply is weak, it demands more from the turbine technology. With such a weak network it is best to utilise a combination of full-power converters and a permanent magnet generator.
If a wind power facility produces enough energy and its operating and service costs are low, it is a good investment. Reliability in terms of operation and use can be improved with proper planning and anticipatory maintenance. The direction in wind power plant operations is more and more from reactive to pro-active maintenance. In the latter, real-time monitoring and the information that is collected from wind power plants make it possible to anticipate service needs before they actually occur. This shortens downtime and allows for undisturbed electricity production.
Wind turbine suppliers have set up various service and maintenance solutions for their customers to keep the rotor blades turning and their customers happy.
The international Renewable Efficient Energy II Conference, organised during the Vaasa EnergyWeek from 21 to 22 March 2012, offers more information on the design of new-generation wind power plants and their service and maintenance solutions. The REE II conference gathers together experts in renewable energy, decentralised energy production and energy technology to discuss the sector’s latest trends.
