Optimal control of a wind turbine with a de-icing system using icing forecasts and observations
Wind power
Voir toutes les réalisations Le projet
Parc Éolien Saint-Philémon (STP) in Quebec and Glen Dhu Wind Energy LP (GDWE) in Nova Scotia are two wind farms operated by Capstone Ltd that are experiencing significant energy losses due to frost build-up on their turbines.
The aim of the project is to automatically control, without human intervention, the de-icing system of the Enercon wind turbines at the two wind farms, based on icing forecasts. Combined with weather forecasts provided by Environment and Climate Change Canada, the GPEO icing model developed by Nergica makes it possible to predict icing at the location of the wind farms and to determine energy losses.
When an icing event is forecast, wind turbine de-icing is automatically triggered at the optimum time to limit the impact of ice build-up on wind farm production. This control has enabled wind farm operators to proactively maximize the use of the wind turbine de-icing system.
This project is made possible in part through the financial participation of the Government of Quebec, viaInnovÉÉ and the Government of Canada, through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaNSERC.
Challenges
- Automatically warn the wind farm operator of upcoming icing events.
- Send commands to the wind turbine controller in Python.
- Optimize energy savings according to the icing event.
- Ensure that the wind turbine control developed is of low priority compared to the internal control of the wind turbine and the park manager.
Solutions
- Analyze the results of our GPEO icing model and send e-mail alerts when an icing event is forecast.
- Develop a unique solution for the wind farm controller (OPC server) using existing Python libraries.
- Develop control logic based on energy losses from our icing model.
- Cancel the control if the wind turbine parameters are not those expected, and automatically inform the operator.
Highlights
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Frost alerts have been implemented at STP and GDWE wind farms. Appreciated by Capstone's partner, these alerts have been configured for 3 and 7 new wind farms in Nova Scotia and Ontario respectively.
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Automatic start-up of the wind turbine blade de-icing system before the onset of any loss of performance detected by the wind turbine.
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Energy savings similar to proactive human intervention for the wind turbines tested.
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Ice alerts sent automatically every 6 hours.
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Creation of an automated control system for the wind turbines at the two wind farms.
