Wins in the wind industry

A Roundtable with DNV, Kenersys and Romax

“Good environmental performance is increasingly viewed as a business imperative. This trend is evident across the energy sector and it is spurring development”
-Tove Field, DNV Wind Energy

The Panel:
Tove Feld, Head of Department at DNV Wind Energy
Dr Andreas Reuter, Managing Director of European Operations at Kenersys Europe GmbH
Andy Poon, Director of Renewable Energy at Romax Technology Limited

EUI. In your opinion, what are the main challenges currently facing the wind power sector? And how are you dealing with them?
TF. Renewable energy has rapidly become a ‘hot’ sector, with increased interest driven by the upward march of energy prices, increasing environmental awareness and energy security issues. These trends have spurred investment in renewable energy projects, particularly wind energy projects. However, this sector presents several technical, environmental and financial challenges that investors and developers need to understand thoroughly in order for their businesses to be successful. DNV offer combined expertise in appraising and evaluating the risks and opportunities your projects face. DNV provide a vast range of services for developers, manufacturers and financiers investing in wind and ocean energy. We provide a clear overview of the risks and opportunities associated with a specific venture. Our risk management services cover the entire lifecycle of projects.

AR. Managing the supply chain to fuel the growth of the sector seems to be the main challenge. To sort out the supply chain, we are leveraging our forging capabilities to deal with some of the most severe bottlenecks. Also we do long term planning and are willing to commit on such a basis. A close co-operation with renowned suppliers and a design which helps to avoid these bottlenecks by using standard and proven components are additional elements of our strategy.

Adaptability to the varying environment conditions, different policy regulations, constraints in obtaining local clearances for land in some developed countries to build wind turbines and availability of good windy sites to increase the project viability are other areas of concern.

Our focus on specific markets and a turbine technology that allows widest flexibility helps us to deal with this challenge. Besides this we co-operate with strong local partners to penetrate into different markets and utilise their expertise.

AP. While global commitments to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases have generated the need for rapid growth in wind energy capacity over the next 10 years, the current generation of wind turbines suffers from high rates of gearbox and bearing malfunction. Costly turbine maintenance and losses in revenue and power generation are affecting the entire industry, from component suppliers to operators. We recognise that the wind energy industry needs to overcome this issue if it is to fulfil its huge potential.

Romax is providing innovative solutions to drivetrain issues through a combination of an expert engineering consultancy team and advanced simulation and analysis tools.

Taking a ‘whole system’ approach we can design and develop robust gearboxes and bearings that will help ensure that wind turbines continue to be an efficient and profitable source of low-carbon energy.

EUI. It has been reported there have been problems sourcing turbine components at a fast enough rate. What is your experience of difficulties in this area and how are you tackling these difficulties?
AR. The availability of some critical components is limiting our growth. Given the restriction of a limited volume of a couple of 100 turbines in our company, these constraints are visible for us but still relatively easy to handle. Kenersys is overcoming this challenge through a combined strategy of supporting our suppliers with the delivery of forged components through the Kalyani group and entering into long term supply contracts with them. The other element to deal with this constraint is some vertical integration in critical areas.

AP. A global presence affords us excellent contacts within the component and sub-system supply chain, particularly in Asia. The potential for component manufacturers in this region is huge, given the large quantity of natural resources and heavy industry that already exists there; coupled with their willingness to invest in manufacturing. However, as Europe has discovered, the production of well-designed and manufactured components requires knowledge and expertise, that is not yet inherent in Asia.

In our capacity as a technical consultancy, we are tackling this issue by providing component manufacturers the knowledge and experience they need to supply quality components to the global wind energy market. Romax are transferring technology to suppliers, advancing their capabilities and satisfying the ever-growing demand from the wind energy industry. This work also puts us in a unique position to be able to introduce European turbine manufacturers to quality Asian suppliers.

TF. Due to the impressive technological pace of the industry, new technologies are designed and type-tested within short development cycles. In order for wind turbine manufacturers to demonstrate confidence in their new wind turbine designs to their customers, wind turbine type certification is seen as a must. We have a long track record with type certification. Since the early days of the modern wind turbine industry in the 1980s, the independent certification we provide has played an important role in minimising the number of design errors and creating confidence in the industry between manufacturers, developers, owners, finance and insurance companies, and regulatory authorities. Lately we see an increased focus on quality throughout all work processes.

EUI. Safety is a key element in the production of wind turbines, how do you make sure that your solution is as safe as possible from project development through to construction and maintenance?
AP. As an advanced simulation tool, RomaxWIND software plays an important role in ensuring wind turbines are fit for purpose and safe. It enables engineers to study all influences across mechanical systems and provides a realistic environment in which to design, develop and test turbine drivetrains. RomaxWIND reflects how a component or system will behave in reality, leading to a greater understanding of turbine behaviour and the ability to accurately predict turbine safety.

The China Classification Society (CCS) established China's first certification system for wind turbines and has been working with Romax in the development of technical standards. CCS showed interest in our software’s ability to accurately predict the behaviour of the mechanical drivetrain and they now use Romax software to ensure Chinese turbine designs adhere to necessary safety standards.

TF. The DNV vision is to make a global impact for a safe and sustainable future. By understanding risk and working hard to improve safety and environmental performance, we take a step in the right direction. We orchestrate these services by drawing upon specialist knowledge and experience from our teams of engineers and surveyors from around the globe.

DNV can provide risk assessments, independent verification for virtually all aspects of a wind energy project. Throughout the project lifecycle, significant investments are made in wind energy projects. Providing sound technical guidance and independent advice minimises project risks and promotes successful outcomes.

AR. Experienced staff with a long track record in the industry, highest internal and stringent quality and safety standards, conducting training programmes (on-site and off-site) at regular intervals to create awareness among staff, proven technical concepts and the use of relevant tools as FMEA and DFR get us there.

EUI. Wind power is often described as intermittent as the wind does not blow continuously, how do you account for the variability of the wind and how does your solution ensure maximum efficiency?
TF. Good environmental performance is increasingly viewed as a business imperative. This trend is evident across the energy sector and it is spurring the development of the renewable energy sector. Energy production through the use of renewable resources is continually increasing due to the rising oil prices and the conscious public focus on cleaner energy. Wind technologies are evolving at a rapid pace and investors are now open to the idea of farming the wind and waves for our future.

DNV is helping these companies contribute to a cleaner environment through a range of services. From business case development, to assessment of environmental impact and clean development mechanisms; DNV is guiding the way for stakeholders to develop a deeper insight onto reliability, safety and the technical and environmental risk involved before these business ideas turn into business reality.

AR. Regarding turbine efficiency next to the specific design features of our turbines, we are planning the preventive maintenance effectively during the lean wind season so as to maximise the uptime. Through our SCADA system we offer the possibility to run the turbines as power plants. Together with partners we are developing integrated concepts combining wind, solar and biomass to offer solutions that provide economic solutions with the required level of availability.

AP. The drivetrain of a wind turbine is constantly influenced by a variety of dynamic loadings and the mechanical drivetrain suffers the full effects of these variable forces. We offer an integrated environment for the design of drivetrain components, that takes into account these variable factors and in-turn, makes our gearbox and bearing designs significantly more effective at dealing with the real conditions in which turbines operate. In addition, we are looking at ways to increase energy capture from the wind, by reducing gearbox warm-up time after idling periods. By considering all these influencing factors early in the design process not only saves time and money, but leads to reliable and efficient design.

EUI. Technology is developing fast and manufacturing is becoming cheaper. What are your thoughts on the future of wind energy? Are there any particular technologies that you are excited about?
AR. Yes, we are quite excited about the conventional wind turbine, which has undergone many innovations since its birth.

AP. Romax are excited about developments in condition monitoring and control systems as they have the potential to greatly impact the reliability and maintenance of wind turbines. The right system could aid more efficient energy production, increase turbine availability and reduce unscheduled maintenance – the ultimate aim of the industry. We hope that our R&D work with other important companies will play a part in driving forward the successful application of this new technology.

The future of the wind energy will, in part, be shaped by the energy policies of governments. As leading nations strive to produce energy through more environmentally friendly means, wind energy is becoming a crucial element of our energy mix. This in turn will see further growth in the industry and drive technological advances in turbine design. The effectiveness of that technology however, is down in part to companies such as Romax who are striving to develop a new generation of wind turbines that will ensure the world’s clean energy needs are met

TF. DNV Energy sees that the future energy supplied will consist of a mix of energy sources – with increased focus on renewable energy sector. Wind energy is already competitive and the most cost effective of all renewables and we expect that new technologies will bring new solutions to the wind industry. Other renewables are foreseen to be more competitive in the future – and undergo an evolution similar to wind.

The move of wind energy offshore, where the winds are stronger and the turbines less likely to interfere with the surrounding landscape, involves unique technical considerations during the project’s development. The complexity of offshore wind farm projects is large and amplified by multiple key stakeholders such as: designers, manufacturers, developers, investors and regulatory bodies, each inevitably focusing on their own areas of interest during project development. There is a general awareness amongst industry stakeholders that moving wind farms offshore represents a ‘game change’. Being offshore the consequences of mistakes and failures becomes larger. Hence managing risk becomes imperative for investors and developers.

Wind industry targets for the EU27 in 2020 [Source: EWEA]

• 180GW installed capacity, including 35 GW offshore
• Annual installations of 16.8 GW, including 6.8 GW offshore
• Electricity production of 477 TWh, including 133 TWh offshore
• Meeting between 11.6% and 14.3% of total EU electricity demand
• 18.1% of total installed electricity generating capacity in the EU
• 32% of total new electricity generating capacity installed (2011-2020)
• Providing power equivalent to the needs of 107 million (49%) average EU households
• Avoiding 328 Mt of CO2 – equivalent to taking 165 million cars off the road
• Total wind power investments of €120 billion (2011-2020)