ONYX InSight, a leading provider of predictive maintenance technologies for the wind industry, has partnered with 8.2 Monitoring GmbH, the leading independent renewable energy consulting and monitoring specialist, to provide advanced sensing technologies, plant monitoring and component life extension programs to the wind industry in Germany.
The market provides a significant opportunity for digitalisation practices; a large proportion of German wind turbines currently lack either a factory-fitted or aftermarket condition monitoring system (CMS) that would help owners and operators to reduce their operational and maintenance (O&M) costs and increase productivity.
This is mainly due to the fact that Germany was one of the first wind markets. Until recently, operators struggled to justify the high cost of installing and running CMS hardware on older turbines against turbines’ lifetime value. However, by using the latest IT and advanced sensor technologies, ONYX InSight has significantly transformed the return on investment. State-of-the-art MEMS sensors, cloud computing, and highly efficient software algorithms reduce dramatically the cost of retrofitting monitoring technology to older installations. This applies to both geared and direct drive wind turbines.
As permitting restrictions and a troubled transition to a merchant market continue to hamper new builds, wind farm owners and operators in Germany are increasingly looking to maximise revenue and minimise operations and maintenance costs for their existing assets.
ecoCMS™ provides an effective and economical aftermarket turbine monitoring solution. This is particularly the case on the market’s workhorse sub-2MW turbines – where previous CMS hardware options have not been considered cost-effective.
About 45% of the turbines installed in Germany use direct drive technology such as Enercon. Although direct drive turbines contain fewer moving parts than their gearbox equivalent, vibration monitoring improves the accuracy of fault detection and prediction in both systems. Failures can be considerably costlier with direct drive fleets due to the larger size and more critical role of components.
Predictive maintenance is essential across both technologies if wind farm operators are to extract maximum value over the lifecycle of their turbines. Collecting and analysing vibration data is one of the most effective approaches available to asset owners and our study shows that operators with better wind turbine data analytics save up to 16% on their OPEX costs. Crucially, combining multiple data streams, such as vibration, oil and temperature, improves diagnostic accuracy – these data sets can all be collected via ecoCMS Advanced Sensing Technology.
Sven Thiesen, European sales director for ONYX InSight, said:
“8.2 Monitoring and ONYX InSight complement each other, and the German wind market now has access to the best predictive maintenance solutions from both companies. 8.2 is deeply familiar with the German wind industry. They are trusted, independent and well-placed to provide market access for ONYX InSight’s economical and effective condition monitoring technology. In combination with 8.2’s leading monitoring expertise, we are changing the economics of predictive maintenance on ageing fleets.”
Bernd Höring, general manager, 8.2 Monitoring GmbH, continues:
“ONYX InSight is bringing a different dynamic to the market with their innovative and economical hardware, cloud-based software solutions and extensive predictive maintenance experience. With a well-connected partner, ONYX InSight will play a key role in ensuring the German wind market can capitalise on the technical expertise and natural resources which continue to draw investors. The increased appetite for retrofits globally is clear, as ONYX InSight have seen ecoCMS™ sales double in 2019. In Germany, a large market is waiting for cost-effective retrofit CMS for a controlled and safe continued operation of old systems. With ecoCMS™ and the patented Grease Flushing (main bearing flushing method for extending the service life of the main bearing), we are optimally prepared for this”
