Within the next couple of years, the wind operations and maintenance (O&M) industry is expected to hit a critical turning point. For the first time, operating expenses (OPEX) will eclipse capital expenditures (CAPEX). According to a 2018 IHS Markit Wind O&M Benchmarking report, an aging North American wind-turbine fleet will soon cost more than new…
Uptake offers AI data capabilities for optimizing O&M
Industrial artificial intelligence (AI) leader, Uptake, announced it is providing comprehensive data integrity O&M capabilities, allowing work order cost analysis that overcomes the challenges with incorrect or “dirty work order” data. According to Uptake, dirty data means it is out of order, highly volatile, and has a lot of room for error. Companies worldwide are using…
Robowind developing robotic tools for turbine blade O&M
Robowind, LLC announced that it has worked with Professors Praveen Shankar and Mahdi Yoozbashizadeh from California State University to develop robots and robotic tools for wind-turbine blade maintenance. This includes installation of turbine blade performance enhancements and improvements. Robotic capabilities in development include inspection, cleaning, sanding, blade repair, painting, performance coatings, installation of vortex generators,…
Safer wind work: A Q&A with Tech Safety Lines’ Reggie Ham
Safety is paramount at any job site and, particularly, at a wind site where workers are typically dozens of feet above the ground. Reggie Ham, Technical Operations Manager with Tech Safety Lines (TSL), recently shared his insight on fall-protection and safety with Windpower Engineering & Development. Ham was a wind technician for eight years prior…
Clir secures investment to advance its renewable AI service
Canadian renewable energy company, Clir Renewables, has successfully closed an investment round, securing C$1.9 million. The service-as-a-software (SaaS) company has developed a renewable energy AI platform that helps wind-farm owners and operators to maximize production and provides clarity on performance risk for all interested stakeholders. “It’s exciting times here at Clir,” said Gareth Brown, Clir…
Detecting ice on wind-turbine blades
The estimated market potential for wind farms in cold climates is more than 200 GW, according to Clir Renewables, a renewable energy AI software company. However, cold-weather climates present unique challenges to wind operators and O&M technicians. For example, icing events on wind-turbine blades may lead to increased loads and reduced aerodynamics, increasing the risk…
Key insights and benchmarking wind energy with IHS Markit experts
Listen in as we speak with two experts with IHS Markit: associate, Michael McNulty and analyst, Max Cohen. IHS offers key information and insight in critical markets that shape the business landscape, including in the field of renewable energy. In this podcast, Michael and Max discuss the type of clean energy research IHS focuses on…
A few more products from WINDPOWER 2019
AWEA’s WINDPOWER 2019 wrapped up last week in Houston, with sights set on Denver, Colorado for June of 2020. This year’s event brought the onshore and (soon-to-be) U.S. offshore sectors together, with insightful displays and information on new and updated gear and equipment for safer job sites, technicians, and wind turbines. We took snapshots of…
Sulzer Schmid and WKA Blade Service inspecting 1,250 Vestas wind turbines by July
Sulzer Schmid, a Swiss company pioneering UAV technology for rotor blade inspections, and WKA, the leading blade inspection and repair service provider, have been enlisted by Vestas to conduct a massive and challenging drone-based blade inspection campaign in Scandinavia, on a staggering 1,250 wind turbines in less than 12 weeks. For this important campaign, time…
Siemens Gamesa handling O&M of 218 MW of Pattern Energy wind power
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy announces it has signed a four-year O&M agreement with Pattern Energy for its 218-MW Panhandle Wind 1 facility, consisting of 118 units of 1.85-87 MW GE wind turbines. The company will begin servicing the turbines later this year in Carson County, Texas. “Siemens Gamesa is a strong service provider and we…
Ensemble Energy closes investment round to expand its predictive analytics platform
Ensemble Energy, a provider of predictive analytics to the renewable energy industry, announced the closure of a seed stage investment round to support its continued growth and the expansion of the features and capabilities of its Energy.ML predictive analytics platform. The Energy.ML platform helps operators increase energy production, predict, and prevent failures, increase operational efficiency,…
ONYX InSight unveils CMS upgrade to cut costs on unplanned O&M
Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) have radically changed the return on investment model for turbine condition monitoring in the United States, helping wind farm owners make significant OPEX savings. By cutting the cost of condition-monitoring systems (CMS), low-cost MEMS sensors have helped wind farm owners to improve operational planning, cut unscheduled maintenance, and make OPEX savings…
WindCom adds rope access to its blade service line-up
WindCom continues to build its reputation for addressing a diverse range of blade service needs by adding a new access method to its lineup. Starting in June 2019, rope access repairs will allow WindCom to provide yet another cost-effective option for completing the most demanding blade services in the industry. “Rope services will bring…
Wood launches new power-price forecasting tool for renewable projects
In recent years, significant reductions in renewable energy generation costs has seen many governments remove the financial subsidies typically available for renewable projects and instead turn to competitive auctions to extract the lowest cost possible for electricity procurement. This has fundamentally changed the level of risk facing developers, investors and lenders on renewable projects as…
Access Clean Energy Savings offers loans for efficiency measures
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) announced the launch of the Access Clean Energy Savings (ACES) initiative. ACES provides technical assistance to help rural electric cooperatives and public power utilities apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Electric Savings Program (RESP). RESP provides zero-interest 20-year loans for improving energy efficiency, including through clean…
Baker-Polito Administration funds offshore wind workforce training programs
The Baker-Polito Administration announced $721,500 in grants to six academic institutions and labor organizations to establish workforce training and development programs to support the state’s emerging offshore wind industry. The awards, which include a $200,000 commitment from Vineyard Wind’s Windward Workforce Fund, represent a significant investment to grow a workforce in the Commonwealth to meet…
Innergex closes financing for Texas’ Foard City wind project
Innergex Renewable Energy announced the closing of a construction financing and tax-equity commitment for the Foard City wind project located in Foard County, Texas. “Foard City is the largest wind farm project ever built by Innergex and, with the Phoebe solar project under construction, will add almost 600 MW of new installed capacity in the United States by the end…
Emerson and Vayu team up to optimize wind farms via machine learning
Manufacturer and engineering company Emerson has formed an alliance with Vayu (a Ystrategies Corp. company) to provide automation technology solutions for wind-farm optimization in the Americas, Caribbean, and Europe. The three-year collaboration combines the advanced power applications and networking capabilities of Emerson’s Ovation automation platform with Vayu’s cloud-computing wind optimization technology. Using this approach, Vayu has…
ALLETE buys Apex’s Diamond Spring Wind project in Oklahoma
Apex Clean Energy announced the sale of Diamond Spring Wind to ALLETE Clean Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE. The transaction includes 15-year power purchase agreements that Apex negotiated with two Fortune 500 companies (to be announced at a later date). The success of Diamond Spring Wind, a 303-MW project located in Oklahoma’s Johnston…
Connecticut to establish offshore wind hub
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, including the State of Connecticut and its partners, have reached an agreement on a harbor revitalization plan for State Pier in New London, which will establish the region as a central hub in New England for the developing offshore wind industry. The Connecticut Port Authority, the state’s quasi-public agency responsible for…