4. WIND ENERGY RELIABILITY AND COST REDUCTION
Enhanced integration with the electric power grid and improvements in wind turbine reliability and performance would enable wind to become a more widely used source of energy with higher levels of system penetration. This topic solicits innovations in wind resource management, advanced sensors and control systems, and manufacturing and assembly techniques for wind energy systems. Applicants must explain the commercial viability of their proposed technology and clearly demonstrate the ability to proceed to hardware development, fabrication, testing, and manufacture of components and devices. Grant applications outside of the subtopic descriptions will not be considered.
a. Smart Wind Grid Integration Systems—Wind energy is serving a growing need for centralized power facilities. Wind turbines are also being deployed in greater numbers in smaller distributed applications ranging in size from a few kilowatts to 10 megawatts or larger. Integration and control of these systems will be crucial to assuring grid reliability and achieving maximum benefit. Grant applications are sought to develop technologies that improve management of the wind energy generation as well as energy storage technologies to achieve more efficient integration of wind energy into the existing electric power grid. Technologies to be considered include real time and predictive wind monitoring sensors and tools to assist grid operators in controlling system stability, frequency and phase support, fault tolerance, and transmission capacity from wind energy systems. Grant applications are also sought for technologies that improve communications and control of distributed wind systems. Proposed technologies to be considered could include such capabilities as improved, real-time generation and load forecasting as well as hourly ramp-rate forecasting; reliable user-friendly prediction of wind resource availability; control and aggregation of advanced energy storage for wind (such as Vehicle-to-Grid), and improved DC transmission integration with wind.
Questions -
contact Dennis Lin (dennis.lin@hq.doe.gov)
b. Wind Turbine Health Monitoring Systems—As wind
energy systems increase penetration into the national electrical power base,
wind turbine reliability becomes of ever greater importance. Grant applications
are sought for new tools and methods to perform real time and predictive
condition monitoring on major wind turbine subsystems, including blades,
gearboxes, towers, and generators. These tools should consist of advanced
sensor systems and instrumentation in addition to real-time performance and
component failure models that can be used to determine structural health and
predict maintenance needs, reducing unscheduled outages and predicting failures
in advance. Proposed systems must be capable of withstanding extreme
environments, including high temperatures, high humidity, extreme cold,
corrosive offshore environments, and wind-blown sand and dust. Both sensors and
data acquisition systems must be capable of lifetimes on the order of 20 years
or be of such a cost as to make more regular replacement economically viable.
Sensors and data acquisition systems must be flexible in nature, capable of
providing a variety of cross cutting health monitoring applications, and easily
integrated into the total wind control platform. Systems should be capable of
integration into wind turbine fleets or remote, stand alone, unattended
turbines. The Phase I effort should lead to a demonstration of the new health
monitoring system in Phase II, in either simulated or actual extreme
environments.
Questions -
contact Dennis Lin (dennis.lin@hq.doe.gov)
c. Wind Turbine Operating and Control Systems (Sensors and Actuators)—As wind systems become more an integral part of the electrical power grid, their real time operation and control become critical. Current monitoring and operating practices are very limited and simplistic, in spite of the fact that as wind energy systems become larger and more costly, the opportunity to cost-effectively employ sensors, controls, and actuators becomes more feasible. Grant applications are sought for integrated wind turbine operating and control systems that allow improved power conversion and power quality. The proposed system must be designed to withstand and react to extremely violent and rapidly changing operating environments. System actuators must respond rapidly and be directed at primary sources of load control or power regulation. They may consist of other modes of actuation heretofore not considered. Sensors, controls, actuators, and electronics must respond at speeds commensurate with the forces, loads and rates of flow impacting the renewable power system. The Phase I effort should lead to a demonstration in Phase II of a balanced system design that will deliver greater cost-effectiveness, integration into the total control system for the renewable generating source must be seamless, acquiring and processing information in a manner that improves the control response of the system and reduces the cost of energy.
Questions -
contact Dennis Lin (dennis.lin@hq.doe.gov)
d. Advanced Manufacturing and Assembly Techniques for Wind Energy Systems—Large utility scale wind turbines are getting so large that transportation limitations are driving final, onsite assembly costs. New tools, methods and designs are needed to reduce manufacturing cost, improve speed of fabrication and improve quality for both central manufacturing facilities and onsite manufacturing. Most of today’s small, distributed wind turbines are made in limited production runs, with varying component/subsystem suppliers and a high degree of customization. There is a need for techniques that would enable high volume production and new approaches for manufacturing key components; for example, hybrid composite/steel structures have the potential to replace current tower designs which are relatively expensive and sometimes lack aesthetic appeal. Grant applications are sought for innovations in the areas of advanced approaches for assembly, component manufacturing, materials or fiber processing, materials handling, and turbine installation and erection. Proposed techniques must help reduce the cost of assembly and installation while having a limited impact on overall capital cost. Techniques should also consider long-term implications such as maintenance, refurbishment, replacement and recycling.
Questions -
contact Dennis Lin (dennis.lin@hq.doe.gov)
References:
1. Hatch, C., “Improved Condition Monitoring Using Acceleration Enveloping,” 2Q04 ORBIT, pp. 58-61, 2004. (Full text available at: http://www.machinecondition.com/articles/articlepdf/2Q04WindTurbCondMon.pdf)
2. Verbruggen, T. W., “Wind Turbine Operation & Maintenance Based on Condition Monitoring: WT-OMEGA,” ECN (Energy research Center of the Netherlands) Final Report, January 2003. (Full text available at: http://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2003/c03047.pdf.)
3. Martί, I., et al., “Evaluation of Advanced Wind Power Forecasting Models,” presented at EWEC06: European Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition: Business, Science & Technology, Athens, Greece, Feb. 27-Mar. 6, 2006. (Full text available at: http://anemos.cma.fr/download/publications/pub_2006_paper_EWEC06_WP2results.pdf.)
4. “The U.S. Small Wind Turbine Industry Road Map: A 20-Year Industry Plan for Small Wind Turbine Technology,” U.S. DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory, June 2002. (Full text available at: http://www.awea.org/smallwind/documents/31958.pdf)
5. Kariniotakis, G., et al., “Next Generation Short-Term Forecasting of Wind Power - Overview of the Anemos Project,” presented at EWEC06: European Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition: Business, Science & Technology, Athens, Greece, Feb. 27-Mar. 6, 2006. (Full text available at: http://anemos.cma.fr/download/publications/pub_2006_paper_EWEC06_WP9overview.pdf.)