PROJECTS
The Mainwind+ project provides onshore and offshore solutions for leading manufacturers in the wind power business and wind farm managers as it is developing systems that increase profitability and optimise maintenance actions.
Know-how used to monitor wind turbine generator components is going to play a crucial role in terms of managing and optimising wind farms, particularly in the case of offshore facilities.
It is within this context that IK4-TEKNIKER played an outstanding role between 2013 and 2015 in the Mainwind project. With funds totalling 5.5 million euros, the project enrolled several companies and technology centres. The ultimate goal at that particular point in time was to develop a new monitoring system for components and predictive maintenance.
During the execution of the programme, new know-how was developed for wind turbine manufacturers (i.e., on-line sensoring, failure prognosis, risk assessments…), that allowed them to maximise wind farm operations and maintenance, both onshore and offshore, so as to be able focus on the production of reliable components required for a new generation of wind turbines. This was a significant qualitative development, especially in the case of offshore wind farms where monitoring and maintenance are greatly influenced by weather conditions and the remoteness of wind turbines.
The aim of the Mainwind+ project, that kicked off in July last year and will last until December, is to take another step and offer specific solutions to manufacturers that actually demand them. Above all, it is necessary to discover how components behave in operation, how reliable they are and how cost reductions can be achieved. The challenge is to exploit the full potential of the information generated by components manufactured to date by providing additional sensoring, communication, storage and exploitation know-how for said data and by fully integrating the value chain of the wind power business.
This system will make it possible to predict how components behave in operation and will reduce failure risks and optimise logistics with regard to spares.
From the point of view of wind farm managers, estimates show that the implementation of know-how developed within the scope of Mainwind+ will allow for reduction of up to 80% in terms of power losses associated with shutdowns; up to 30% with regard to frequency in major operations and 15% in the case of hours of supervision.
With a budget of 6.5 million euros, Mainwind+ is being developed within the scope of the Hazitek programme that offers support to strategic industrial research and experimental development projects launched by the Department for Economic Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Government and involves a large number of Basque companies and technology centres.
