Wind turbines can be subject to a wide range of environmental conditions during a life span that could conceivably extend beyond 20 years. Hailstone impact is thought to be a key factor in the leading edge erosion and damage of the composite materials of wind turbine blades. Using UK meteorological data, this paper demonstrates that the rotational speed is a crucial factor in determining the magnitude of the kinetic energy associated with singular impact and is likely to be significant for incidents of hail. An improved representation of hail characteristics, occurrence probabilities and realistic impact component velocities is also proposed, from which the prospect of individual impact by large hailstones is found to be very scarce. Instead, the damage posed by multiple impacts throughout wind turbine operation is assessed. The annual average cumulative impact energy for a high frequency of hail case study is determined and evaluated against example composite failure threshold energies in the literature.
During high wind speed shutdown (HWSS) events, the power outputs of wind power plants may be subject to high ramp rates, causing issues for the System Operator (SO) in predicting total wind output, allocating adequate reserve levels and minimising balancing costs. As the timing of these events is difficult to predict, it is proposed that individual turbines may be used as probabilistic early warning indicators of HWSS events across sites, and by extension to a wide geographical area. The shut-down history of two separate wind farms across Scotland is analysed to determine the likelihood and impact of such events. It is shown that in most cases, HWSS does not result in the full loss of availability. Factors such as turbine elevation and mean wind exposure are key indicators of the order of shut-down across a site. The suggestion that sites could be used as early warning indicators for the pattern of HWSS across a transmission zone is difficult to characterise and for the two wind farms studied, prediction was not consistent
Marine operations required to transfer technicians and equipment represent a significant proportion of the total cost of offshore wind. The profile of sites being considered for floating offshore wind farms (FOWFs), e.g., further from the shore and in harsher environments, indicates that these costs need to be assessed by taking into account the maintenance requirements and restricted weather windows. There is an immediate need to investigate the potential use of robotic systems in the wind farm's operations and maintenance (O&M) activities, to reduce the need for costly manned visits. The use of robotic systems can be critical, not only to replace repetitive activities and bring down the levelised cost of energy but also to reduce the health and safety risks by supporting human operators in performing the desired inspections.This paper provides a review of the state of the art in the applications of robotics for O&M of FOWFs. Emerging technology trends and associated challenges and opportunities are highlighted, followed by an outline of the agenda for future research in this domain.
Wind turbine blade damage, particularly leading edge erosion, is a significant problem faced by the renewable energy industry. Wind turbines are subject to a wide range of environmental factors during a 20+ year lifespan, with hailstones often touted as a key contributor to the deterioration of the blade profile. An experimental campaign was carried out to investigate the effects of repeated impact of smaller diameter simulated hail ice (SHI) on composite materials, to correspond to those most prevalent at wind farm locations. Hailstones of four different diameters (5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm) were fired at velocities in the range of 50 m s −1 to 95 m s −1. Samples used for experimentation were manufactured from triaxial stitched glass fibre [0 • /−45 • /+45 • ] and epoxy resin. Damage was evaluated in terms of sample mass loss and microscopy of the composite surface. For all examples, mass loss was negligible and optical microscopy showed little evidence of surface damage. Surface degradation was discernible under scanning electron microscopy for the larger diameter SHI (≥ 15 mm), with projectile velocity a notable factor in the extent of the damage. Even for large numbers of impacts, there was little noteworthy damage caused by smaller, more prevalent SHI (≤ 10 mm). This suggests that hail is not a direct cause of wind turbine blade erosion.
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