NEWS ABOUT INNOVATION, MAINTENANCE, TAILWINDS CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURING

Kawailoa Wind is installing NRG Systems’ Bat Deterrent System on its 30 turbines. (Courtesy: NRG Systems)

mitigate the impacts of renewable en- bat conservation can co-exist.” ]]INNOVATION ergy development,” said Bryan Martin, Kawailoa Wind is curtailing, or chief executive officer of D. E. Shaw Re- turning off turbines in low wind NRG Systems sells newable Investments (DESRI), which speeds at night, when bats are most ac- owns and operates Kawailoa Wind. tive, to minimize Hawaiian hoary bat Bat Deterrent System “We are excited to partner with NRG fatalities. NRG’s Bat Deterrent Systems to Hawaii Systems at Kawailoa Wind as part of are expected to be used in addition to those efforts.” curtailment. NRG Systems, Inc. has announced Bat fatalities have been document- the first commercial sale of its Bat ed in association with wind-farm oper- MORE INFO nrgsystems.com Deterrent System to Kawailoa Wind, ations in Hawaii — an occurrence that Hawaii’s largest wind farm. Located has been seen at wind farms across the on the island of Oahu, Kawailoa Wind globe. Because of this, conservation of INNOVATION will outfit each of its 30 turbines with these animals has become one of the a Bat Deterrent System. The adoption most pressing issues facing the renew- Vaisala expands of NRG’s pioneering technology is part able energy industry today. of Kawailoa Wind’s ongoing efforts to “Wind energy is crucial to providing weather radar offering help conserve the Hawaiian hoary bat, in Hawaii,” said Bri- which has been on the United States’ ta Woeck, environmental compliance to include X-band list of endangered species since 1970. officer for Kawailoa Wind. “Kawailoa Vaisala, a global leader in weather, en- “DESRI has a history of adopting Wind is invested in finding solutions vironmental, and industrial measure- innovative technologies and ideas to so that clean energy generation and ment, recently announced the develop-

30 JULY 2019 ment of an advanced X-band Weather ]]INNOVATION 9.36 kilowatts peak (kWp), are of He- Radar. The smaller size and lower cost liatek technology (HeliaSol 308-5986 of an X-band radar will make it an ide- Acciona installs model). They are only 1 millimeter al instrument to enhance the weather thick, and each one has a surface area detection capabilities of a specific lo- photovoltaic modules of 5,986 x 308 mm. cation. In difficult terrain, it fills the on turbine tower In contrast to the conventional gaps to reliably detect snow, rain, and technology used in the manufacture other weather activity. Adding X-band The Energy Division of Acciona has de- of photovoltaic models based on sili- radars to an existing network will also veloped a pioneering solution in the con, these organic panels use carbon improve the accuracy of precipitation field of hybridization between wind as raw material and are characterized measurement, providing better data and photovoltaic power. It consists of by their structural flexibility, which for flood warnings or hydro-electric covering a wind-turbine tower with makes them adaptable to different power plants, for example. In airport flexible organic panels to produce en- surfaces. Other key features are lower environments, the radar allows for ergy for the internal electricity con- maintenance costs, less energy con- detection of wind shear, wake vortices, sumption of the turbine. sumption during manufacture, easier convective weather, even birds. The innovative project will allow logistics, and the complete recycling The new X-band Weather Radar the study of the performance of the of the materials used, although their provides accurate measurements for organic panels — an emerging pho- efficiency is still below that of silicon a limited area, filling in a gap in a tovoltaic technology — and their ap- modules. national radar network or delivering plication to improve wind-turbine “The hybridization project in Breña precise information for an airport. efficiency. means the optimization of the use of Severe weather in mountainous areas The system has been installed in space for renewable energy produc- and gaps under sparse weather radar one of the turbines of the Breña Wind tion, and it will enable us to test the networks will be visible when X-band Farm in Albacete, Spain, which Accio- efficiency of organic photovoltaics, a radars are added to the radar networks. na owns and operates. The turbine technology that we believe has one of Airport safety and efficiency will be is an AW77/1500 of -Acciona the best improvement curves in terms improved with accurate detection and Windpower technology, mounted on of technological efficiency,” said Belén nowcasting of hazardous conditions. an 80-meter-high steel tower (hub Linares, energy innovation director at “X-band radar will enhance a weath- height). Acciona. “That is why we have decided er detection arsenal, making it even Installed on the tower are 120 so- to pilot it.” more reliable and accurate,” said Pek- lar panels facing southeast-southwest The immediate application of the ka Utela, director of Weather Radars to capture the maximum of the sun’s Breña project is to produce part of the for Vaisala. “By developing a smaller rays throughout the day. They are energy that the internal systems of the system allowing simple site selection, distributed at eight different heights, need. When the turbine as well as providing maximum weath- occupying around 50 meters of the is running, some of the energy gen- er detection sensitivity with automatic tower’s surface area. The photovoltaic erated is used to power the auxiliary and continuous calibration, the new modules, with an overall capacity of systems. In shutdown mode, certain X-band radar will answer the chal- lenges decision-makers face in severe weather situations.” The intelligence the X-band radar collects will provide significantly im- proved situational awareness. When integrated with other measurement systems, such as Vaisala C-band Weath- er Radar or wind Lidar, users will get the most comprehensive, real-time data available. At airports, accurate wind shear detection, complemented by Lidars, helps optimize take-off and landing sequences, as well as enhanc- ing the safety of flight operations.

MORE INFO vaisala.com/weather-radars An X-band Weather Radar antenna. (Courtesy: Vaisala)

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es ’s solid position in one of the largest markets in the world. The contract also includes a ser- vice and maintenance agreement for Siemens Gamesa’s premium mainte- nance program, offering the best in scale and flexibility to maximize en- ergy asset returns. Project completion is expected for the end of 2020. “EDF Renewables is a very strong partner for us, and we are glad to be working with them on a number of projects like Milligan and the recent- ly announced Coyote and Oso Grande wind projects,” said José Antonio Mi- The system has been installed in one of the turbines of the Breña Wind Farm in Albacete, randa, CEO of Onshore Americas at Spain. (Courtesy: Acciona) Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “This order again is evidence of our cus- systems need to continue functioning tive and aviation safety systems, the tomer’s confidence in Siemens Gamesa so they are fed from the grid, which technology is low cost and highly reli- and our leading technology.” means that the wind turbine is reg- able. MEMS equipped CMS have trans- The SG 4.5-145 offers a flexible istering a net consumption of energy. formed the return on investment for power rating from 4.2 MW to 4.8 MW turbine monitoring, particularly for depending on site conditions and has MORE INFO www.acciona.com owners of smaller or older models. a rotor diameter of 145 meters. It is Lowering the cost of CMS hardware optimized for medium wind onshore has allowed owners to refine repair locations to maximize energy produc- ]]INNOVATION and maintenance strategies to real- tion with low noise emission levels. ize greater OPEX savings. The latest Operators need to CMS hardware collects a wide range MORE INFO www.siemensgamesa.com of wind-turbine performance metrics, invest in disruptive allowing wind-farm operators to iden- tech, says Onyx Insight tify and confirm faults much earlier ]]MANUFACTURING and to act preventatively to save mon- Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems ey on repairs and site visits. The low- introduces (MEMS) have radically changed the re- cost technology can benefit older and turn on investment model for turbine smaller turbine models significantly. the V138-3.0 MW condition monitoring in the United to reduce LCOE States, helping wind-farm owners MORE INFO www.onyxinsight.com make significant OPEX savings. By Following the launch of the EnVentus cutting the cost of condition moni- platform in January, including the toring systems (CMS), low-cost MEMS ]]MANUFACTURING V162-5.6 MW and V150-5.6 MW tur- sensors have helped wind-farm own- bines, Vestas recently introduced the ers to improve operational planning, Siemens Gamesa V138-3.0 MW turbine at AWEA WIND- cut unscheduled maintenance, and POWER in Houston, Texas. Based on make OPEX savings of up to 8 percent reaches 1 GW for EDF the scalable EnVentus platform archi- each year, according to ONYX InSight. Renewables in the U.S. tecture, the V138-3.0 MW’s 138-meter First introduced by ONYX InSight rotor provides a large rotor-size-to-gen- in the wind-energy industry, MEMS Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy erator-rating ratio, strengthening sensors are used in CMS hardware has been awarded another order by Vestas’ portfolio of turbines through to measure and report on vibration, EDF Renewables to supply 30 SG 4.5- superior park level energy production, temperature, and oil condition in the 145 and 36 SG 2.7-129 wind turbines higher certainty in performance, and drive train. With billions of MEMS for the 232 MW Milligan wind project, reduced levelized cost of energy. sensors manufactured every year in Milligan County, Nebraska. This The V138-3.0 MW is globally ap- for use in equipment from mobile project marks 1 GW of SG 4.5-145 wind plicable but purposely designed to phones and pacemakers to automo- turbines sold world-wide and reinforc- maximize performance under mar-

32 JULY 2019 ket specific constraint conditions. By Asia Pacific (APAC) for the SG 8.0-167 combining the V138-3.0 MW turbine’s DD also includes a 15-year long-term 138-meter rotor with an 83-meter tow- service agreement. Construction is ex- er, the new turbine offers the indus- pected to start in 2019, with turbine try’s largest swept area under 152.4 installation beginning in 2020. meters (500 feet), a relevant height As announced in October 2018, the constraint in the United States. At the project will feature localized towers same time, the turbine’s leading sound in 2021, via CS Wind and Chin Fong power levels makes it highly suitable Machine Industrial’s partnership in for low wind sites in sound sensitive Taichung harbor. It thereby satisfies markets such as France. official localization requirements on “The V138-3.0 MW underlines Vestas’ turbine components. Gearbox operations and management ability to continuously innovate and The SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbine can be particularly demanding, often in lead the industry in developing cus- has a rated capacity of 8.0 MW, and a remote locations and challenging weather tomizable and sustainable energy solu- rotor with a 167-meter diameter. It has conditions. (Courtesy: Shell Lubricants) tions that meet our customers’ needs,” a swept area of 21,900 square meters saide Chris Brown, president of Vestas’ and uses the SGRE B81 blade, which withstand extremes of hot and/or cold sales and service division in the United measure 81.4 meters. climates, water, dust, and fluctuating States and Canada. “This turbine is a wind speeds. These severe conditions perfect match for the North American MORE INFO www.siemensgamesa.com and varying loads can cause damage market where higher certainty in An- to the gearboxes, including micro-pit- nual Energy Production at park level ting. If a gearbox failure occurs, it can will become increasingly important ]]MAINTENANCE cause significant equipment down- for our customers to secure project time, leading to monetary loss. With financing and ensure profitability in Shell launches 10-year more than 56,600 wind turbines now a post-PTC market.” active across 41 states, with a com- With the introduction of the V138- warranty gearbox oil bined capacity of 97,223 MW, oper- 3.0 MW, EnVentus now covers a wide to U.S. market ational efficiency has never been of spectrum of turbine generator ratings more importance in the U.S. and rotor sizes, underlining the scal- Shell Lubricants unveiled a new syn- ability of EnVentus’ platform architec- thetic gearbox oil for wind turbines in MORE INFO www.shell.us ture. Prototype installation is expect- the U.S. market at AWEA WINDPOW- ed by the second half of 2020, while ER 2019 in Houston, Texas. serial production is scheduled for the With a 10-year warranty, Shell ]]MAINTENANCE first half of 2021. Omala S5 Wind can help to extend operational uptime and reduce un- Crawler cranes use MORE INFO www.vestas.com planned breakdown by offering en- hanced protection. tandem lifts to remove “70 percent of U.S. power businesses blades from turbine ]]MANUFACTURING don’t realize that effective lubrication can lead to shorter periods of equip- On behalf of Enercon, Belgian crane Siemens Gamesa ment downtime, having negative service provider Aertssen removed ramifications on the bottom-line,” said the 72-metric-ton, 58-meter-long ro- to supply offshore Warren Cates, senior research scien- tor blades from an Enercon E-126 wind project in Taiwan tist at Shell. “Improving this aspect turbine at a height of approximately of equipment maintenance can make 136 meters for maintenance. However, Following its selection as preferred a significant impact on profitability. what may sound like a routine job was supplier in May 2018, Siemens Game- Shell’s range of wind turbine gearbox actually a tricky challenge, and it was sa Renewable Energy has received lubricants are designed specifically for only the team’s extensive experience the firm order by wpd offshore to exceptional oil life under various ex- and two CC 3800 lattice boom crawler supply the 640 MW Yunlin offshore treme conditions, as is demanded by cranes that enabled them to success- wind power plant in Taiwan. Located America’s varied climate.” fully carry out the corresponding lifts. approximately six kilometers from Gearbox operations and manage- “Before anything else, we had to shore in the Taiwan Strait, the plant ment can be particularly demanding, decide which crane to use for the job,” will feature 80 SG 8.0-167 DD offshore often in remote locations and chal- said Aertssen Project Manager Peter wind turbines. This first firm order in lenging weather conditions. They must Bertels.

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There were two options available: brief corrections throughout all three either a large crane that would be able lifts, which totaled a distance of about to take care of the lifts by itself or two, 400 meters. One week later, after the more compact, cranes that would tack- required maintenance was complete, le the lift in tandem. Ultimately, the the rotor blades were reinstalled on team decided on using its two CC 3800 the wind turbine. cranes, as they were more cost-effec- tive, would be powerful enough when MORE INFO www.aertssen.com used together, and had the required re- liability and precision characteristics for the lifts. However, it was first nec- ]]MAINTENANCE essary to make sure that the ground bearing capacities at the work site in Airway Services Estinnes would be sufficient for the two crawler cranes, as they had orig- announces ISO inally been calculated back when the 9001:2016 Certificate wind turbine had first been erected, for the use of a single crane only. Airway Services recently announced A total of 52 truck runs across a The 72-metric-ton, 58-meter-long rotor the successful completion of its Inter- blades from an Enercon E-126 wind turbine distance of about 130 kilometers were at a height of approximately 136 meters national Organization for Standardiza- needed in order to get the two cranes are removed for maintenance. (Courtesy: tion (ISO) 9001:2015 audit for its corpo- from the Aertssen branch in Sta - Aertssen) rate office in San Angelo, Texas. The broek to the work site. Once there, a audit’s objective is to set international five-member Aertssen team set up the crane operators depended on the in- requirements for quality management cranes within a week. The team start- structions of Enercon employees who systems. ed by setting up the first crane, which were also on-site for the job. The audit was performed by QAS was placed a bit farther away from the “The reason is that even though International (QAS) on April 23, 2019, wind turbine, on the corresponding ac- we’d installed cameras on the spread- and Airway Services passed the most cess road, and then proceeded to set er beams, our crane operators were recent version of the audit. The inter- up the second one, which was closer operating remotely, and were there- nationally recognized ISO 9001 stan- to the tower. For the configuration, the fore unable to determine whether the dard is applicable to any manufactur- team decided on the main boom vari- slings were at the right height,” Bertels ing or service industry. ant with a 141-meter LSL and 12-meter said. “It was kind of like lassoing a tiny The newest version of the ISO 9001 LF4 arrangement with an offset of animal.” certification contains key updates 20 degrees. The Superlift mast had a Once the two slings had “lassoed” including an emphasis on risk-based length of 36 meters, and the crane was the rotor blade, the cranes swung thinking to enhance the application set up with 165 metric tons of counter- them to the intended rigging points, at of the process approach, improved ap- weight and 50 metric tons of Superlift which point it was time for the tricky plicability for services and increased counterweight. part of the job: First off, the cranes leadership requirements. Once all these steps were complet- needed to rotate parallel to each other ed, the two cranes and the Aertssen in order to get the blade out of the ro- MORE INFO www.airwayservicesinc.com team were ready for the technically tor. Once this happened, crane 1 had a ambitious lifts: The 72-metric-ton gross load of 46 metric tons on its hook, rotor blades not only had to be taken while crane 2 had a load of 36 metric ]]CONSTRUCTION from a height of 136 meters and safely tons. After this, the operators were lowered to the ground, but they also able to set down the blade at a radius Chartwell Marine wins had to remain perfectly balanced of about 22 meters. However, the blade while being lowered. To achieve this, had to be kept in a perfectly horizontal design contract for the operator of the CC 3800 that was position at all times in order to prevent hybrid catamaran closer to the tower first guided a sling, it from sliding off the slings, which is which was hanging from a spreader why digital spirit levels with wireless Chartwell Marine, a pioneer in beam with four-part reeving, around transmission capabilities were in- next-generation vessel design, has the tip of the rotor blade. The operator stalled on the blades in advance to let been selected to design and specify of the other crane then repeated this the operators know, at all times, that build for a U.S. hybrid vessel. The 65- same procedure. When “lassoing” the the blades were level. foot catamaran has been designed to rotor blades with the slings, the two It was only necessary to make two meet EPA Tier 4 emission standards

34 JULY 2019 and will set a benchmark for vessel operators and boat builders in the U.S. and further afield. Driven by the emergence of new industries such as offshore wind, the diversity and scope of workboat opera- tions off the U.S. East Coast is increas- ing rapidly. Simultaneously, offshore wind vessel operators, public institu- tions, and port authorities must be- gin to adapt to increasingly stringent emissions regulations. As these stake- holders in the U.S. maritime market Chartwell Marine will design a 65-foot catamaran that meets EPA Tier 4 emission standards. look to reduce their carbon footprints, (Courtesy: Chartwell Marine) vessel design and hybridization is be- coming an increasing area of focus. fective safety training. ] Wearables and Embedded Tech- In order to provide operators with “The traditional way of handling nology: This technology involves at - these next generation hybrid craft, safety training tends to be boring and taching various types of mobile elec- however, there are a number of design doesn’t take into account the natural tronics and embedded sensors to the challenges to overcome, requiring spe- learning style of construction work- body and personal protective equip- cialist naval architecture and design ers,” said Abby Ferri, vice president, ment for a wide range of purposes. expertise. national construction practice, Hays ] IoT (Internet of Things): By com- Chartwell Marine and its partners Companies, a Minneapolis, Minneso- bining the real-time data generated by won this design project following a ta-based risk management, insurance wearables, embedded technology, and competitive tender launched by a lead- and employee benefits adviser. “It is GPS tracking with the IoT, Big Data can ing New England institution. The firm more effective to provide hands-on be used to monitor and measure a wide was selected on the basis of its indus- training, and if this can’t be done in variety of safety performance metrics try-leading track record in developing the immediate workplace, the train- within the construction industry. high-performance catamarans and ing should be done in some sort of a ] Enterprise Solutions: These are hull forms for the offshore wind sector, simulation of the workplace or at least designed to integrate multiple facets of and low emission, hybrid architecture. do meaningful activities that bring jobsite safety through the interchange These design considerations will the workplace into the classroom.” of information from “connected” work- be made possible by an advanced new Ferri, who has been involved in con- ers and a “connected” jobsite. catamaran hull form that has been struction safety for more than 16 years, ] Collision Avoidance Systems: optimized via Computational Flow Dy- has found that, rather than building a Technologies will continue to evolve namics (CFD) modeling, enabling max- PowerPoint presentation for a particu- to further improve blind-spot cover- imum maneuverability and stability lar topic, it is more effective to deter- age, proximity detection alerts, detect- resulting in a smoother and safer ride. mine the learning objectives for the ing the presence of workers, collision particular training, identify learning avoidance systems, and systems that MORE INFO www.chartwellmarine.com activities that can be facilitated with monitor equipment operators and keep the students (workers), and then guide a record of their performance. them through the training. ] Microlearning: This involves ]]CONSTRUCTION “It is important that the training be breaking down information into com- interactive, because this helps to keep pact, focused learning segments — usu- Top safety everyone involved,” she said. ally three to five minutes long — that The trainer needs to digest what is are designed to meet a specific learn- technologies being shared, understand the group ing outcome. The training, which can to watch out for that is taking the training, and, if nec- be viewed on a smartphone or tablet essary, adjust the learning activities to in the field, is easier to process, and Safety training is critical in the con- make it applicable, she said. knowledge retention is increased. struction industry because it’s a high- Ferri is conducting an “in the field” ] Apps: Mobile applications are risk workplace with hazardous work. Safety Tech Trek at ICUEE, October 1-3, making it easier to get safety training Dangerous situations are part of the 2019, in Louisville, Kentucky. to workers, plus they help safety man- everyday working environment. The These are some of the top con - agers be more productive. constant challenge for construction struction safety technologies to keep companies is to create and deliver ef- an eye on: MORE INFO www.aem.org

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