This article describes how SCADA Miner’s wind turbine monitoring service can deliver benefits throughout the stages of a wind farm’s life.
New Wind Farms
At the start of a wind farm’s operating life, it will typically be under an availability or energy-based guarantee. During this period, SCADA Miner’s automated tests identify wrongly-allocated downtime and under-performance.
Review of the exception reports that are generated on the wind farm SCADA data can enable the owner to demonstrate operational awareness to the OEM. This can shape the future relationship between OEM and wind farm owner. OEM’s are typically more open about problems if the owner demonstrates they are paying attention to the operation of the wind farm. This can only be achieved through automated wind farm monitoring.
Wind Farm Warranty Period
As the wind turbines approach the end of their warranty, SCADA Miner’s wind farm monitoring system can identify defects. Examples include wind turbines shutting down or constraining due to high temperature components, at ambient temperatures below their maximum rating. These defects can be of high value. Consider a wind turbine constraining due to high gearbox temperature. This may be a sign of a serious problem in one of the gearbox bearings (refer to this example exception report). The owner may choose to run the gearbox to failure, but by lodging the defect prior to end of warranty, upon its failure, the cost of gearbox replacement must be borne by the OEM.
End of Wind Turbine Warranty
Once the wind farm warranty ends, predictive maintenance becomes more important. SCADA Miner’s monitoring service helps the wind farm owner and service contractor proactively maintain wind farm assets. For example, hot components can be investigated and possibly fixed before they cause lasting damage and downtime. In some instances, a problem may not be able to be fixed. For example, a wind turbine gearbox suffering from high levels of vibration due to damage already done.
Knowledge of the problem can enable the wind farm owner to plan for the failure and have major components on site. The owner may decide to take advantage of a crane being onsite and change out the major component before failure.
SCADA Miner for Wind Farm Service Contractors
SCADA Miner’s monitoring system provides significant value for wind farm service contractors as well as owners. Automated data analysis can generate chargeable work for the service contractor. The generated reports also help demonstrate to the owner that the service contractor is proactively managing the wind farm.