In the offshore wind energy market where operating costs and capital expenditure are high, reliability of turbines is crucial. Vestas’ new V164-7.0 MW has been designed for increased reliability, improving the business case for our customers.
For offshore wind power plants with massive turbines generating huge amount of energy, the initial capital investment made by customers for each turbine will be higher than for smaller onshore turbines operating in greater numbers. With fewer turbines generating energy,downtime of turbines is much more expensive. Therefore,reliability of the V164-7.0 MW is extremely crucial.
Finn Strøm Madsen, President,Vestas Technology R&D, explains that all Vestas turbines are reliable.
“But it is possible to put reliability even higher on the agenda by intelligent controls and adding redundancy for offshore turbines, such as installing extra systems to let the turbine be able to produce power at an equal or reduced level until the turbine can be serviced.”
Holistic view
One of the main drivers apart from safety and reliability in the philosophy of the largest development project in Vestas’ history has been maintaining a holistic view on the design of the turbine being a power plant component. This is donein order to maximize wind power plant output, and also involves design for manufacturing, service, transport and installation.
“We believe we have found the perfect match between rotor size, generator size, sustainable solutions, life span of the turbines and how the turbines interrelate,” says Finn Strøm Madsen.
“Combining our extensive knowledge about offshore wind conditions with the holistic view on the total Cost of Energy level in the life cycle of a power plant has been the perspective we have had through the whole development process.”
New control ensures reliability
The V164-7.0 MW will feature advanced sensors to predict the need for component maintenance, cutting the need for unscheduled replacement.It will also use an intelligent control system, which in case of a critical system error will continue to operate the turbine as much as possible, but for example at a lower output until the next scheduled service visit to ensure that the lost production is minimised or completely avoided.
Offshore servicing is extremely costly, so these measures will ensure minimum downtime of the V164-7.0 MW, improving the business case for customers.
Proven technology
The performance of Vestas’ turbines is superior, which is proven by the very low lost production factor. Vestas also hasinhouse design and production competence on direct drive technology.
But whilst many of Vestas’ competitors are investing in direct drive technology, the V164-7.0 MW will retain the geared drive system; a proven technology which will offer customers the lowest cost of energy.
Chief Project Manager of the V164-7.0 MW Albert Winnemuller explains that the decision to use the geared drive was that technology behind the direct drive will be more expensive over the lifetime of the turbine, resulting in a higher cost of energy. In addition, the technology is not proven.
“The initial cost of installing a direct drive system will be more expensive than turbines with a gearbox,” he states.
The direct drive system has less rotating mechanical parts than the gearbox system, but also has more electrical parts and interfaces.
“The generator in the direct drive system is built with electrical connections, which are also partly rotating, so any possible issues associated with the geared drive will be transformed into electrical issues in the direct drive,” explains Albert Winnemuller.
The V164-7.0 MW will also be less reliant on permanent magnets, which are used extensively in direct drive turbines. One country currently controls the majority of the rare earth materials which are used to produce permanent magnets, and the price is rising dramatically, and availability is unpredictable. Consequently, Vestas’ geared turbines will be more competitive.
The next step
The construction of the first prototype of the V164-7.0MW will start in Q4 2012, and if there is a firm order backlog, thus full commitment from both customers as well as the needed political framework in various markets, serial production could commence in Q1 2015.
“We have made it very clear to all of our stakeholders that we are ready to participate in the offshore game, when it really takes off in Northern Europe and especially the UK as the first mover. But it is obvious that we do not invest in the necessary expansion of manufacturing facilities before customers make firm and unconditional orders. That would not be a responsible approach,” says Finn Strøm Madsen.
“I am sure that our core offshore customers will join when they are presented with the V164-7.0MW - the new reference point at sea.”
