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WINDBLATTENERCON Magazine for wind energy Issue 02 | 2010
www.enercon.de
POWERED BY SAILING ROTORSE-Ship 1 in the testing phase
Page 6
TECHNOLOGYDuctile cast iron parts for WECs: Production launch at new ENERCON foundry
Page 8
PRACTICEENERCON wind farm planning: Best possible yield for every wind zone
Page 12
JOB PROFILESGenerator service technician: Maintaining the key components
Page 14
INTERVIEWRainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, President of EREF: “In Europe, 100 % renewables is feasible by 2050”
Page 16
Page 3
Page 4
Page 6
Page 8
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Page 12
Page 14
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Page 2Page 4
Editorial
ENERCON News
News from the ENERCON world
Title Story
Powered by sailing rotors: E-Ship 1 in the testing phase
Technology
Ductile cast iron parts for WECs: Production launch at new ENERCON foundry
International
Benaiciai project in Lithuania: Construction launch of largest ENERCON wind farm in the Baltics
Delabole project/Good Energy: Repowering Great Britain’s oldest wind farm
Practice
ENERCON wind farm planning: Best possible yield for every wind zone
Job Profiles
Generator service technician: Maintaining the key component
Interview
Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, President of EREF: “In Europe, 100 % renewables is feasible by 2050”
Addresses & Events
ENERCON AddressesInfo-Service
ImprintPublisher: ENERCON GmbH · Dreekamp 5 · 26605 Aurich · Germany · Phone +49 4941 927-0 · Fax +49 4941 927-109 · www.enercon.de/en/_home.htmEditorial office: Volker Uphoff, Ruth Brand, Teelke BojarskiPrinted by: Steinbacher Druck GmbH, Osnabrück, GermanyCopyright: All photos, illustrations, texts, images, graphic representations, insofar as this is not expressly stated to the contrary, are the property of ENERCON GmbH and may not be reproduced, changed, transmitted or used otherwise without the prior written consent of ENERCON GmbH.Frequency: The WINDBLATT appears every three months and is regularly included in the “new energy”, magazine for renewable energies, of the German Windenergy Association.Subscribe: Phone +49 4941 927-667 or www.enercon.de/en/_home.htm.Cover photo: E-82/2.0 MW near Martigny, Switzerland.
EN
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ES INTERNATIONAL SALES OFFICES
ENERCON GmbH, Sales Dept.
ENERCON Sales · Dreekamp 5 · 26605 Aurich · Phone +49 4941 927-0 · Fax +49 4941 927 669 · E-mail: [email protected]
Argentina
ENERCON Soporte Area Argentina · Blanco Encalada 1204-4/B · C1428DCJ Ciudad de Buenos Aires · ARGENTINIA · Phone + 54 11 47 886 114 · Fax + 54 11 47 886 114 · E-mail: [email protected]
Austria
ENERCON Service Austria Ges.m.b.H · Hauptstrasse 19 · 2120 Wolkersdorf · AUSTRIA · Phone +43 2245 82828 · Fax +43 2245 82838 · E-mail: [email protected]
Baltic States/East Asia
ENERCON Denmark · Bredkær Parkvej 62 · 8250 Egaa · DENMARK ·Phone +45 87 430 388 · Fax +45 87 430 344 · E-mail: [email protected]
Belgium
ENERCON Services Belgium BVBA· Sales Belgium · Bernhard Fink · Stationsstraat 97 · B-2440 Geel · BELGIUM · Phone +32 14 591 611· Fax +32 14 591 612 · E-mail: [email protected]
Brazil
Wobben Windpower Ltda. · Av. Fernando Stecca nº 100 · Distrito Industrial CEP 18087450 · Sorocaba · São Paulo · BRAZIL · Phone +55 15 2101 1700 · Fax +55 15 2101 1701 · E-mail:[email protected]
Canada
ENERCON Canada Inc. · 1000, rue de La Gauchetière ouest · Bureau 2310 · Montreal, Québec · H3B 4W5 · CANADA · Phone +1-514-ENERCON (514-363-7266), +1-877-70-82-101 (toll free) · E-mail: [email protected]
Central & Eastern Europe
ENERCON GmbH · Sales Magdeburg · August-Bebel-Damm 24-30 · 39126 Magdeburg · GERMANY · Phone +49 391 24460 236 · Fax +49 391 24460 231 · E-mail: [email protected]
France
ENERCON GmbH bureau français · 1, rue des Longues Rayes – ZAC des Longues Rayes · F-60610 La Croix Saint Ouen · FRANCE · Phone+33 3 44 83 67 20 · Fax + 33 3 44 83 67 29 · E-mail: [email protected]
Greece
ENERCON GmbH · Greek Branch · 20, Pentelis Avenue · 15235 Vrilissia, Athens · GREECE · Phone +30 210 6838 490 · Fax +30 210 6838 489 ·E-mail: [email protected]
Italy
ENERCON GmbH Sede Secondaria in Italia · Via Luciano Manara, 5 · 00044 Frascati (Roma) · ITALY · Phone + 39 06 94 01 69 1 · Fax + 39 06 94 01 69 299 · E-mail: [email protected]
Latin America / Australia / New Zealand
ENERCON GmbH · Andrea von Lindeiner · PO Box 26135 · Christchurch 8148 · NEW ZEALAND · Phone +64 3 3811350 · Fax +49 4941 976 959 25144 · Mobile: +64 21 858871 · E-mail: [email protected]
Luxemburg & The Netherlands
ENERCON Benelux BV · Paxtonstraat 1 a · 8013 RP Zwolle · THE NETHERLANDS · Phone +31 38 4228 282 · Fax +31 38 4228 010 · E-mail: [email protected]
Portugal
ENERCON GmbH Sales Portugal · Parque Empresarial de Lanheses · Lugar de Segadas · 4925 424 Lanheses · Viana do Castelo · PORTUGAL · Phone +351 258 803 500 · Fax +351 258 803 509 ·E-mail: [email protected]
Spain
ENERCON GmbH Sucursal en España · Ronda de Auguste y Louis Lumière 23 · Edificio 21 A · Parque Tecnológico · 46980 Paterna (Valencia) · SPAIN · Phone +34 961824 556 · Fax +34 961 828 143 ·E-mail: [email protected]
Sweden
ENERCON Energy Converter AB · Stenåldersgatan 19 · 21376 Malmö · SWEDEN · Phone +46 40 143 580 · Fax +46 40 222 420 · E-mail: [email protected]
Turkey
ENERCON Rüzgar Enerji Santrali Kurulum Hizmetleri Ltd. Sti. · Sales Turkey · Arif Günyar · Atilla Ilhan Caddesi No: 22 Kat: B2 · 34750 Atasehir, Istanbul · TURKEY · Phone +90 530 93 94 173 ·E-mail: [email protected]
United Kingdom & Ireland
ENERCON GmbH · Sales UK & Ireland · Henri Joppien · Dreekamp 5 · 26605 Aurich · GERMANY · Phone +49 4941 927-0 · Fax +49 4941 927-109 · E-mail: [email protected]
Editorial
This April, East Frisia was able to inaugurate yet another new pro-duction facility. Eighty employees are now working in the new
foundry manufacturing the drive train for our wind turbines. By next year, this number is expected to rise to 150 jobs – jobs for peo ple who, for some, experienced longer periods of unemployment and have now gained a new perspective after training to become skilled foundry craftsmen. All these people are part of the machinery needed to push forward the inevitable energy change. Not only our foundry but also our other production facilities are continuously expanding.
It’s a good thing that a number of German and European scientific institutions and organisations have recognised just how quickly rene-wables can provide the lion’s share of our power supply. The “Sach-verständigenrat für Umweltfragen”, a Berlin based committee of po-litical and scientific experts, expects full sustainable power supply already by 2050. According to their predictions, 80 % of this clean electricity will be provided by wind energy.
Looking at energy scenarios, it is important to clearly distinguish between truly sustainable CO2 free power and so-called carbon-free power. The lobby of conventional power producers is rising up against the change favouring renewables by trying to pass nuclear power off as being clean and/or promoting carbon dioxide capture and storage
– which is by no means technically mature – in order to further com-bust coal. Fortunately, a great number of studies already provide a clearer picture of our energy future, paving the way to 100 % renewa-ble energies. One of these initiatives is EREC’s (European Renewable Energies Council) “REthinking 2050”. Based on feasibility studies, the programme clearly reveals that we already possess the technology to achieve 100 % sustainable energy today. It’s just a question of politi-cal will to work towards this objective. Decision-makers at all political levels must be made aware of this, as the course for 2050 is being set today. If we invest in coal power plants today, these will still be emitting huge amounts of C02 far beyond 2050 – a burden for the climate that could hardly be compensated for.
Political resolve to rethink our energy supply also means recognising renewable generating systems as what they really are – power plants. Currently however, the European Union is preparing a directive which does not allow for this recognition but rather wants to include our power plants in a directive on peak values for hazardous substances in electrical appliances and not in a directive which lays down limit values for power production plants. This is an outright discrimination against renewable energies which we have to combat in Brussels. If the European Parliament sincerely wants to work towards 100 % sustainable power, they will also support us in this matter.
Yours sincerely
Aloys WobbenManaging Director ENERCON GmbH
“Carbon-free technologies” cloud
perspective for energy change
Renewables discriminated by EU directive
on hazardous materials
Currently the European Parliament is
revising the Directive on the restriction
of the use of certain hazardous sub stances
in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS).
Until now, this directive applied primarily to
household appliances such as refrigerators,
cameras or video recorders, etc. but also to
electrical and electronic tools and medical
devices. However, now the parliament and
commission are planning to include renewable
energy power systems in the directive.
As the renewables sector advocates a clean
and sustainable energy supply, they by no
means want to dodge exigent limit values for
hazardous substances such as lead and cad-
mium in their plants. But the sector deems it
entirely inappropriate that wind energy con-
verters be put in the same category as small
private electrical devices, which generally
wind up in household trash. Wind turbines by
contrast have strict recycling concepts. Tur-
bine operators are even obliged to set aside
reserves in order to be able to dismantle a
WEC at the end of its lifespan. As an alter-
native, manufacturers of renewable energy
systems and their organisations in Brussels
suggest providing environmental standards for
all types of energy producing systems based
on Lifecycle Assessment (LCA). All power pro-
duction systems would thus be measured on
the same basis.
If, however, the regulations currently being
discussed in Brussels remain as they are,
renewables would, compared to conventional
power plants, be disadvantaged due to stricter
regulations.
At this year’s European Wind Energy Confe-
rence and Exhibition – EWEC – the main
contingent of visitors was either from the host
country, Poland, or neighbouring states. On the
first days, in particular, exhibitors who mana-
ged to get to Warsaw were basically amongst
themselves as many international visitors un-
fortunately had to cancel or arrived late due to
the volcanic ash alert over European air space.
Frank Ihme, Senior Sales Manager for Eastern
Europe and Austria, reports that despite this,
ENERCON staff still had a good number of in-
teresting discussions with Polish, Austrian and
Eastern European customers. “Financing was
the main topic, but other issues such as the
need to expand the grid, especially in Poland,
were also on the agenda,” explains Ihme.
While attendees at the EWEC were discus-
sing financing, experts at the “Wind Ener-
gy Market in Poland” conference were
arguing about the host country’s wind
potential. Jerzy Andruszkiewicz from the
Polish power supplier, PSE, saw the capacity
of wind power limited at 6,000 MW, and the
director of Energy Management and Conser-
vations Agency, Franciszek Buchta, felt that
more than double the capacity is feasible. But
the fact that Marcin Korolec, Deputy Minister
of the Economy, agreed with PSE’s estimation
and announced 6,000 MW of wind power by
2020, put somewhat of a damper on the sec-
tor. Ihme: “We would have wished for a much
stronger commitment to renewable energies
from the political side.”
ENERCON still rates Poland and other East Eu-
ropean markets as promising though and will
soon be opening up a sales office in Poland.
“Of the Central and Eastern European market,
Poland has the biggest potential,” says Ihme.
“Planners and customers have been quite ac-
tive here for years and we’ve already signed
contracts for a considerable amount of wind
power. When the office opens up, customers,
authorities and power utilities will be able to
contact us there directly.”
EWEC 2010: Volcano clouds over fair
Eolica Expo 2010
(Rome/Italy)
8th International wind energy fair
8 – 10 September 2010
www.zeroemissionrome.eu
HUSUM WindEnergy 2010
(Husum/Germany)
German wind energy exhibition
21 – 25 September 2010
www.husumwindenergy.com
NEREC 2010
(Oslo/Norway)
North European renewable energy
convention
28 – 29 September 2010
www.nerec.no
RENEXPO 2010
(Augsburg/Germany)
11th International trade fair for
renewable energy & energy efficient
building and renovation
7 – 10 October 2010
www.renexpo.de
CanWEA 2010
(Montreal/Canada)
Annual wind energy conference and
exhibition
1 – 3 November 2010
www.canwea.ca
BWEA32 2010
(Glasgow/Scotland)
Annual wind energy conference and
exhibition
2 – 4 November 2010
www.bwea.com
EuroTier 2010
(Hanover/Germany)
International DLG exhibition for
animal husbandry and management
16 – 19 November 2010
www.eurotier.de
INFO
-SE
RV
ICE
4 WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 NEWS
Since this spring, four out of nine wind farms
on the Thames River project in the Canadi-
an province of Ontario have been connected to
the grid. At the other five sites – in South Side,
North Malden, Naylor, Gracey and Richardson
– ENERCON installation teams are working full
speed as these sites are expected to go into
operation before the end of this year. Each farm
comprises five E-82/2.0 MW machines.
These WECs will be erected using single blade
installation method. “Our teams are made up
of two employees from international ENERCON
Support teams and six to eight workers from
Ontario,” reports Marc-Antoine Renaud, Busi-
ness & Development Manager from ENERCON
Canada in Montreal. The first team assembles
the turbine without the rotor blades and the
second team mounts the blades.
Operator of the Thames River project is Bora-
lex Inc., based in Kingsley Falls, Québec. The
company has an installed capacity of over
400 MW of renewable energies – hydro, bio-
mass and wind – in operation at 29 sites in
Canada, the US, and France. There, the com-
pany has already acquired several wind farms
with ENERCON
WECs. In addition,
Boralex is laun-
ching construction
of a 262 MW wind
farm in Québec in
2013, also with
ENERCON WECs.
“The biggest
challenge though
for the Thames
River wind farm
was to deal with
the soil (clay) du-
ring con struction.
As a solution to
this, the foundations have 35 meter deep
piles,” reports Patricia Lemaire, Director of
Public Affairs and Communications at Boralex.
“ENERCON is supervising the construction
of Thames River project I+II, and does main-
tenance with EPK,” says Renaud. Produced
electricity will be sold to the Ontario Power Au-
thority under the advanced Renewable Energy
Standard Offer Program (RESOP) at 11.5 Cents
per kilowatt-hour. Recently the province intro-
duced a renewable energy program – Green
Energy Act – with a feed-in tariff of 13 Cana-
dian cents per kilowatt-hour.
The province’s target for wind energy is to
have 4,600 MW of newly installed capacity by
2020. “Right now, Ontario has set up a third of
this. Therefore, every year 200 to 300 MW of
wind energy will have to be added.”
NEWS WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 5
Mid April, EREC, (European Renewa-
ble Energies Council) presented its
“REthinking 2050” campaign to the European
parliament. The objective of this campaign
is to convince the public of the feasibility of
providing Europe with fully sustainable power
by the year 2050 – and at the same time put
forward recommendations for necessary po-
litical action.
EREC envisages power and heat being enti-
rely supplied by renewables by 2050 and more
than two thirds of all vehicles running on “bio-
fuel”. This scenario is based on two groups of
framework conditions: firstly, on the EU’s “New
Energy Policy” scenario for energy consump-
tion – distinguishing both a moderate and high
price environment, and also assuming aggres-
sive and less aggressive improvements in effi-
ciency; and secondly, on the EREC member
organisations’ anticipated annual increase in
the installed capacity of each type of renewa-
ble energy technology. Comparing demand and
production potential, the authors of the study
come to the conclusion that “it is feasible to
reach a fully sustainable energy system based
on renewable energy in the EU by 2050.”
In order to attain this fully sustainable ener-
gy supply, the appropriate political framework
is needed. The EU Directive which stipulates
20 % renewables by 2020 has to be imple-
mented. Furthermore, ambitious binding
sustainable energy objectives must be set by
the EU states for the year 2030. According to
EREC, abolishing subsidies for fossil and nu-
clear power sources, modernising electricity
infrastructure, introducing an EU-wide carbon
tax as well as completely liberating the energy
market are also indispensable if Europe wants
to rethink its energy market.
Once these prerequisites have been fulfilled,
the EU will be able to save 325 billion euros
per year on import costs for fossil fuels by
2030 and by 2050 a mind-boggling amount
of 1,090 billion euros p.a. These savings are
based on a crude oil price of an estimated
200 US dollars per barrel by 2050 – given the
progression of prices in recent years, this is a
rather modest calculation.
EREC launches “REthinking 2050” campaign
Halfway mark for Ontario, Thames River project
River Thames: Subprojects Marsh Line, Front Line, Bisnett and Swanton are already connected to the grid.
Lake Huron Lake
Ontario
Ontario (CAN)
Michigan
(USA)
South Side North Malden
GraceyRichardson
Marsh LineFront Line
SwantonBisnettNaylor
Lake Erie
Lake St. Clair
Toronto
Hamilton
Samia
London
Kitchener
Detroit
6 WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 T ITLE STORY
E-Ship 1 in testing phasePowered by sailing rotors
In addition to a multitude of other innovations, the E-Ship 1 features four rotor sails (vertical rotating cylinders) driven by electro motors
which, together with the wind, provide thrust similar to conventional sails, but only ten times more effective. In the 1920s, this technology was already successfully tried and tested by Anton Flettner, but soon lost its significance due to the introduction of diesel motors.
At ENERCON, the “New Technologies” department took up the topic again and after extensive calculations, tests with a rotor on land and simulations in a wind tunnel developed the rotor even further and turned their efforts into reality – the E-Ship 1. “The rotors, combined with other new features are designed to reduce fuel consumption and thus, compared to conventional ships, significantly lower the amount of pollutants per ton transported,” says Rolf Rohden, Chief Develop-ment Engineer and Project Manager for the E-Ship 1. Another notable ENERCON development on the rotor sail ship is the innovative pro-peller/rudder design. In order to obtain real and verifiable reference values, the E-Ship 1 will be undergoing comprehensive testing during its trial run with both a conventional propeller/rudder as well as with the ENERCON designed propeller/rudder.
In developing the rudder and propeller geometrics, the design en-gineers from the New Technologies department made use of their extensive experience in flow engineering generally applied to wind and hydro turbine blades. Special thanks are to be extended to the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (German Federal Environment Foundation) for their support in the research project for the develop-ment of the rotor sails and propeller.
Streamlined hull with little resistance
Other not quite so obvious technical innovations developed by ENERCON are for example the E-Ship’s streamlined hull with reduced resistance both above and below the waterline and the main drive system based on ENERCON’s converter and E-82 generator techno-logy. Both have been adapted and certified to get approval for marine application. All components of the E-Ship’s drive system are smoothly coordinated. Designed to protect structures on the front deck during high seas, the new wave breaker at the ship’s bow was also deve-loped and tested by Wobben Research & Development in extensive water canal essays.
ENERCON’s revolutionary transport vessel, E-Ship 1, is back from the dry docks after completion of its paint-
work and is now in the trial phase. Monitored by the classification body, Germanischer Lloyd, the E-Ship is
currently undergoing its first trails along with regular test manoeuvres just north of Borkum. Prior to this, it
successfully completed stability tests in Emden’s harbour as well as extensive component testing.
The entire concept of the vessel evolves around sustainability. So even at sea, avoiding and sorting waste is a key factor in properly dis-posing of waste when reaching the port or terminal. The ship is also a test platform for an ingenious wastewater system (filter system and bilge oil water separators) whose values, with regard to the discharge of residues containing noxious substances, have been rated far lower than the limits set by the International Maritime Organisation.
Paint coat saves fuel
To prevent possible environmental damage in case of accident at sea, all relevant tanks (fuel, lubricants, etc.) are also protected by a double hull. In addition, exhaust heat is recycled through a steam turbine and provides a portion of the necessary energy. Below the waterline, the smooth surface of the ship’s special-designed paint coat also contri-butes to saving fuel. These are just few examples that demonstrate that there is more behind the E-Ship 1 project than meets the eye.
Much of the E-Ship’s crew was already hired at an early stage and has accompanied a better part of the construction phase which has not only facilitated initial training on the ship’s new technology but will allow for more efficient operation. Developers and crew alike are
proud and excited about seeing the revolutionary new ship finally set out to sea. “After the long construction phase, we really want to show what the E-Ship 1 is capable of! I’m convinced that this ship is the first significant step towards an energy change in the shipping indus-try,” states Rolf Rohden.
Maiden transport voyage in summer 2010
In collaboration with the Transport and Logistics department, ENERCON has perfectly trimmed the ship to accommodate its turbine components. Its hold is designed to take on up to twenty E-82 wind energy converters (without towers). Inside the hold, the usual welding work is no longer necessary as the E-Ship has a special designed la-shing point system which allows for a maximum flexibility for holding rotor blades in place.
And, not only does the E-Ship 1 feature extremely high safety stan-dards but also comes equipped with the latest nautical equipment and extensive manoeuvring aids. Once the test runs at sea and com-prehensive testing on the systems have been completed, the ship is expected to set sail with its first load of ENERCON wind turbines in summer 2010.
E-Ship at harbour in Emden (left) and in dry docks at the shipyard; Standard propeller made of cast non-corrosive aluminium/bronze; Leaving the dry docks.
TITLE STORY WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 7
Production launch at new
ENERCON foundry
Ductile cast iron parts for WECs
On 9 April, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister, Christian Wulff, and ENERCON founder, Aloys Wobben, inaugurated
the new GZO – Gusszentrum Ostfriesland foundry in Georgsheil near Aurich. GZO is Germany’s first foun dry
specially conceived for serial production of the huge cast iron wind energy converter components. Im-
pressed, Wulff applauded GZO as being “a state-of-the-art foundry”.
At GZO, not far from ENERCON headquarters, serial production of ductile iron components for ENERCON wind turbines is well un-
derway. Facilities ranging from the smelting furnace to the conveyor and transport mechanisms, the lifting equipment and individual work-stations all the way to the air filter system and laboratory are already up and running. And recently, an automatic mixing unit for composite additives to the spheroidal graphite iron was assembled and installed. “We’re pleased with the results so far and will be continuing to opti-mise our processes to meet our projected production plan,” reports Co-Managing Director Simon-Hermann Wobben. In the casting shop, the moulders fill sand into the flasks. In the next shop, 1400° molten iron is poured from the melting furnace. A giant crucible transports the molten mass to one of the three main carrier flasks which was manoeuvred into the queue in front of the furnace by rail.
“All shops are now fully operational,” reports Ralf Kelling, also Co-Managing Director. And the foundry’s test phase was more than satis-factory. So far, the casting and melting shops have cast several spe-cimens of each of the three components to be produced at GZO: main carrier, rotor hub and stator shield, in this case for the E-82 machine.
First components installed at wind farm near Paris
“Our first finished components have already been installed at the Mont de Gerson wind farm near Sorbon, north east of Paris,” says Kel-ling. Before the components were dispatched, they were thoroughly in spected and certified by ENERCON’s own Quality Control depart-ment as well as by SKET Maschinen- und Anlagenbau in Magdeburg. “Compared with top quality components from external suppliers,
60 ton stator shield being manoeuvred by remote control.
our components fully meet the standards,” emphasises Kelling. The aim is to build up a capacity for 25,000 tons of ductile iron com-ponents per year by the end of 2010.
The GZO site layout was especially tailored to meet specific demands for producing the cast turbine components in series. For example, the work platforms in the mould shop were constructed to fit the exact di-mensions of the parts. “We placed a lot of emphasis on health and safety and ensuring ergonomic workplaces,” stated Kelling. Pre-paring the flasks from fixed work platforms, for instance, increases work safety as com-pared to working from ladders.
Positioning aids provide better
ergonomics
The vast facades of the buildings are desi-gned to allow as much daylight as possible to enter the facilities. Innovative air cleaning systems filter up to 440,000 cubic meters of air every hour. And specially developed flat red transport cars move the flasks from one station to the next along imbedded tracks ensuring smooth production flow. Once the cast parts have cooled off, huge hydraulically driven positioning aids make sure that they can be easily processed.
In planning the details for the casting facili-ties, GZO was able to benefit from the experi-ence of their cooperation partner, HegerGuss Foundry in Enkenbach-Alsenborn / Rhineland Palatinate. “The exchange of technological know-how has been a great experience for both companies,” Kelling underlines. Not only did ENERCON benefit from HegerGuss, but HegerGuss also benefited from ENERCON’s experience in automa-ted production processes for oversized machine components.
130 new jobs for the region
Currently, eighty people are working at the foundry in Südbrook-merland-Georgsheil and fifty more are expected to be hired in 2010. Some of the employees are specialists for production planning and quality management from other ENERCON firms. “Recruiting was done in cooperation with the Federal Employment Agency, the East Frisian Chamber of Commerce and the German Foundry Association (VDG),” explains Simon-Hermann Wobben. “First we invited people to
TECHNOLOGY WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 9
Crucible directly after pouring the iron into the main carrier mould.
a general info event in Aurich. Eligible applicants could then get their qualification as a ‘skilled foundry craftsman (VDG)’.” The majority of these employees are from North west Lower Saxony. In addition, GZO was able to gain a number of highly experienced foundry specialists for supervisory positions.
Other invitees to the festivities on 9 April were the manufacturers of the automation equipment, representatives from cooperating building companies as well as ENERCON customers and suppliers. “By the end of 2010, the foundry will be producing in two shifts and by then we want to have switched most of the dispatch and delivery to rail transport,” says Co-Managing Director Kelling.
10 WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 PRACTICE
Best possible yield for
every wind zone
ENERCON wind farm planning
What kind of wind farm layout best suits for a particular site? ENERCON Sales’ Planning department can pro-
vide a quick and dependable answer to the question. Determining the right number of turbines is the key, i.e.
calculating the best ratio between investment and yield.
Planning a wind farm depends on zoning requirements such as hub height restrictions or sound emission levels which have to be con-
sidered to obtain official approval. But anticipated turbulence is also a factor to consider in optimising the use of a site, as this will have a major impact on farm efficiency. Turbulence is a combination of natural turbulence and the wake created by the turbines themselves. On the one hand, spacing is important: The higher the level of turbulence, the further apart the WECs need to be. Spacing not only contributes to the stability of the turbine but also helps to avoid wake turbulence.
However, on the other hand the WECs should not be too far apart, as this could significantly reduce the potential yield of the site. ENERON Sales’
Planning department is in charge of optimising wind farm layouts in terms of the turbines’ stability, sound power levels, shadow casting and yield – key factors for feasibility studies. To carry out feasibility studies, ENERCON experts not only rely on standard programs and special wake model software but also on an exclusive profitability calculation program developed by their company.
Testing structural safety
“Wake” is the swirl of air which occurs behind the WEC once the air has passed around the rotor. Two parameters are necessary to calcu-late the minimum permissible distance between the wind turbines at
Scharrel wind farm: “Standard planning” with 5x RD spacing in main wind direction, 3x RD in secondary wind direction (left) and actual layout.
Main wind direction
Main wind direction
WEC 1WEC 1
WEC 2WEC 2
WEC 3
WEC 3
WEC 4
WEC 4
WEC 5
WEC 6
WEC 7
EXISTING WIND FARM CONSISTING
OF 5 WEC
WIND FARMPLANNED
EXISTING WIND FARM CONSISTING
OF 5 WECWIND FARM PLANNED
which structural safety is ensured: the natural surrounding turbulence and the average wind speed. Natural turbulence can be determined by looking at wind statics with respect to the characteristics of the terrain. The average wind speed can be taken from a wind expertise or can be determined by comparing with neighbouring wind farms.
The result of calculations made with the “wake” model is recognised as a valid expertise for ENERCON wind farms with the same turbine types. For wind farms with different types of turbines, an additional tool is used to determine the permissible spacing and stability of the WECs based on results of the wake assessment. This analysis re-quires the installation coordinates and the wind distribution function. A pre-calculation such as this, is a valuable instrument for determi-ning the wind farm layout. However, external turbulence observations and stability certifications are still necessary for wind farms with mixed turbine types.
“Once pre-calculations have been done, an external expertise is ge-nerally just a formality,” says Stephan Kettler, wind farm planner at ENERCON GmbH in Aurich. “Standard configurations with distances of 5 times the rotor diameter in the main wind direction and 3 times the rotor diameter in the secondary wind direction are a thing of the past, as they do not make sufficient use of the area’s yield potential.”
Well-backed optimisation
For the initial site configuration, ENERCON Site Assessment compi-les a yield estimation and noise forecast. Then Sales carries out a feasibility study including energy yield estimation, investment cost calculations, operating costs and financing. In order to consider all the aspects, ENERCON has developed a program which compares various farm layouts and their potential profitability. The Planning, Site Assessment and Sales departments then use a multiple feed-back process to first determine the ideal configuration in terms of structural safety. Next, yield and farm efficiency are calculated for this configuration. And finally, Sales takes look at profitability from
another angle by comparing different turbine sizes, tower heights and number of turbines.
Profitability versus efficiency
Wolfgang Lübbe from ENERCON Sales department in Aurich, points out the advantages of this process based on the Löningen wind farm near Cloppenburg/Lower Saxony. According to the “conventional” planning method, five wind turbines could fit on the site. But turbu-lence observations and structural safety calculations carried out by ENERCON showed that it was possible to install seven turbi-nes: Energy yield estimations and profitability forecasts indi-cated that a configuration with seven turbines would be more profitable for the investor than five. Although the wind farm’s efficiency was lower with seven turbines (only 86.8 % vs. 93 % with five turbines), the pre-tax profit with seven turbines was rough-ly three million Euros higher than with a standard layout plan. Whereas investment was the same for both models, return of invest-ment was considerably improved with seven machines.
On flat terrain efficiency is not the crucial criterion
Owners and planners often consider wind farm efficiency as being the main criterion. But on a flat terrain with good wind conditions it is not the decisive factor, explains Lübbe. A relatively low gain in effici-ency often comes with a higher price. For example, the efficiency of the Scharrel wind farm (near Cloppenburg) would have been approxi-mately 4 % higher with only four turbines instead of the final number of seven wind turbines. The expected pre-tax profits would have been a third less – under the same economic conditions.
Of course, this does not mean that farm efficiency does not play an important role in configuring a farm. Wolfgang Lübbe: “Wind farm efficiency is a vital criterion when the farm is on exposed or rough terrain. But here again, it is definitely worth using ENERCON’s farm layout optimisation plan.”
Five out of seven ENERCON E-70/2 MW turbines at Scharrel wind farm (German state of Lower Saxony) during commissioning phase.
Construction launch of largest
ENERCON wind farm in the Baltics
One out of 17 foundations for E-82 turbines in Benaiciai, neighbouring ENERCON wind farm in the background.
Benaiciai project in Lithuania
ENERCON has completed foundation work for its largest wind farm in the Baltics so far. Customer of the
17 x E-82/2.0 MW wind farm in Benaiciai is Renerga, a 26-employee company that is part of the well-estee-
med Achema Group, Vilnius. The new wind farm shall contribute to the company’s aim to become the best
and most reliable renewable energy producer in Lithuania.
One of the main challenges of the realisation of wind farms in the Baltics is grid integration”, says Linas Sabliauskas, the Director of
JSC Renerga, based in Jonava near Kaunas. According to Sabliauskas, the grid operator tries to avoid any investment in enhancement. Thus, Renerga is building a new branch in Benaiciai to connect the wind farm’s substation to the grid. “Since 2006, there has been a reserved seat for this expansion,” adds Sabliauskas. “Existing power lines of 110 kV are not capable of carrying more MW at the necessary pace.” Renerga is also building parts of the MV transmission lines, which in the future will allow the grid operator to make circuit connections.
Another challenge in Lithuania is political support. “There are many good speeches in the political institutions, but as a fact we still don’t have a renewable support law,” states Sabliauskas. However, time is running out: In 2010, Lithuania closed its nuclear power station, so that today the country is completely dependent on gas and electricity from Russia. “Electricity prices have increased by 28 %, so everybody is wondering about a self-sufficient supply,” reports Sabliauskas.
According to the original schedule, construction work at Benaiciai should have started last year. But soil conditions proved to be more
complicated than expected. Therefore, several additional soil samples and analyses were needed. Finally, foundation construction started this spring, after frost and snow had left the site. “We are assembling a mixture of pile and gravel foundations, with buoyancy and various quantities of soil exchange. Construction work is running according to schedule now,” reports ENERCON project manager Lutz Gormans.
The Benaiciai project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010. Then, Renerga will have 50 MW of wind energy under operation. The company is aiming to further diversify generation capacity: Another 50 MW of wind energy are to be installed by 2014. Hydro power and biomass cogeneration plants are also planned with a power of 100 MW. “We need even more capacity, because in the long run we have to compete with gas-fired power plants,” says Renerga’s Director.
On a neighbouring lot in Benaiciai, ENERCON realised two projects in 2007. With a share of 82 %, the manufacturer is by far the market lea-der in Lithuania. This year, four more E-82 wind farms will be installed in the country. “In addition to our bestseller, we currently receive many requests for the E-33, which is typical for a weak grid area,” says Jørn Kristensen, ENERCON sales manager for the Baltics.
Repowering
Great Britain’s oldest
wind farm
INTERNATIONAL WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 13
Delabole project/Good Energy
British renewable energy provider Good Energy is repowering its
Delabole wind farm in North Cornwall with four E-70 turbines. The
farm is the oldest in the UK. The dismantling of the old turbines has
begun this spring. The Delabole project is part of the company’s
strategy to invest in own generation sources as well as creating a
community of generators, explains Chief Executive Juliet Davenport.
The aim is to “give customers the best price possible for their 100 %
renewable electricity supply”.
Windblatt: Good Energy is mainly a provider of electricity from rene-wable sources. Why did you start repowering the Delabole wind farm?Juliet Davenport: It’s always been part of our plan to invest in our own generation sources as well as buying from a network of inde-pendent generators. We wanted to be able to create a community of generators as well as owning our own. Having more of our own gene-rating capacity gives a natural hedge over the price of energy, so we can give our customers the best price possible for their 100 % rene-wable electricity supply. Repowering Delabole to increase its output by two and a half times is the first in a pipeline of future large-scale developments for Good Energy.
What were the biggest challenges for Good Energy in the realisation of this project?Davenport: One part of wind farm development that can often be a challenge in the UK is planning. Our team worked with Delabole residents from the very beginning, to introduce the project and get their feedback before submitting our plans. The whole planning pro-cess took nine months – which is good. I think it’s testament to the power of time, and how things become the norm. Delabole was the UK’s first commercial wind farm, so it has become part of the area and the residents are used to the reality of living near a wind farm. Too many applications stall here in the UK because regulation favours those people who oppose plans rather than those who support them.
What was your company’s motivation to choose ENERCON turbines?Davenport: We went through a competitive process for choosing our turbines, and ENERCON came out top out of the four turbine ma-nufacturers we considered. The turbines were slightly more expensi-ve per MW, but for this site, the performance of the ENERCON turbines
over the other turbines meant that the cost per MWh produced was actually lower in our financial modelling. ENERCON also performed well on noise, and meant that we could put four turbines on the site rather than having to reduce the number to comply with the planning conditions. Finally, ENERCON have an excellent reputation for ope-rational and maintenence and availability, and this meant that when we choose ENERCON the bank financing was more straightforward.
How do you secure the 100 % renewable quality of the electricity delivered to your customers?Davenport: Good Energy is the only company in the UK to have a 100 % fuel mix disclosure. This means that for every unit of electricity we sell to our customers, we own a Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin certificate, generated by a renewable generator during the year. We make sure we have this through careful planning and mar-keting by our procurement team, who spend a lot of time working with renewable generators and making sure we can match the needs of our customers over 12 months. We have just under 1,000 genera-tors making electricity.
What will be the impact of the new British feed-in tariffs, beginning 1 April 2010, on the development of renewables?Davenport: We hope that the feed-in tariff will significantly in crease the uptake of microgeneration technologies in the UK. It certainly makes installing these types of technologies much more financially attractive, as it significantly shortens the payback time. Importantly, what domestic renewable technologies can do that large-scale ones like wind farms can’t is reconnect people to the source of their power – absolutely vital in reducing our energy consumption and changing the pattern of when we use energy.
Juliet Davenport.
Pict
ure:
Goo
d En
ergy
Maintaining the key
component
Daniel Onnen and Matthias Meiners have already prepared their equipment for a troubleshooting assignment on the generator of
an E-40 turbine in the village of Hagermarsch in Northern Germany. On this morning in May, the turbine located at a site that affords a view of the North Sea island of Borkum is standing still. The turbine’s control system displays status “Error: temperature measurement”. Onnen and Meiners have already carried out all measurement checks that can be done from the ground. “Now we continue at the top,” says Onnen. Two red bags are ready, containing crimping pliers, multime-ter, wire cutters, ratchet set, heat-shrink tubing, blow-dryer, generator paint, cleaning rags, and a set of temperature sensors. “We also take
a compressor along, in case we need to use the gun for the gene-rator paint,” says 28-year-old Onnen. He climbs up the tower in order to manoeuv-re the bags through a hatch into the nacelle, using
a winch. Once the tools have arrived safely in the nacelle, Meiners also climbs up.
“To verify whether the fault may be with the sensors, we need to do a measuring check on them,” explains Onnen. When a sensor is wor-
king properly, its electrical resistance is of a certain quantity – depen-ding on generator temperature. Any deviations point to a malfunction. “With most defects, the resistance moves into the high-ohmic range,” says Matthias Meiners, who is also 28 years old. Through measu-rements at generator details, the technicians can identify the exact location of the fault. Sometimes however, Meiners and Onnen may even need to take the complete measurements of all temperature sensors in a generator area.
Sophisticated fault analysis and troubleshooting
“If we find a defective temperature sensor, we replace it,” explains Meiners. He uses heat-resistant glue to affix a new sensor to a gene-rator winding of the E-40 machine. Then he strips the cables that are attached to the new sensor and crimps them to two ends of a cable strand on the generator. After some more measurements and checks, Meiners, who is a qualified equipment and systems technician, pulls a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the transition point. He uses the blow-dryer to make the tube shrink and tighten around the joint.
The “generator overtemperature” message is one of the control sys-tem messages where the specialist teams are called into action. “We are also called when the excitation current in the generator deviates from the target value,” says Onnen. The turbine’s control system con-stantly monitors this value; if deviations occur, the Service Dispatch centre receives a notification. “If this happens, the team must check different areas of the generator systematically in order to assess whe-ther values are still plausible.” Measuring points are set in a manner that enables the technicians to narrow down the location of the fault step by step. “Once the fault has been exactly identified, one possible way to fix it may be to replace a pole shoe.”
Generator service technician
Generator service technicians take care of the key component of a wind energy converter: the generator – the
component that converts the kinetic energy of the rotor into electric energy. ENERCON currently employs 40
such generator technicians worldwide, just a fraction of its entire Service staff. In order to keep up with the
expansion of its installed base, the company plans to create more such teams. For most of the year, generator
service technicians do the same type of work as the regular Service electronics technicians. If, however, a
wind energy converter within their Service area suddenly indicates voltage drops or excessive temperatures at
the generator, it is their chance to apply their specialised know-how. International Support’s generator service
teams are deployed worldwide for assignments in their special field.
14 WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 JOB PROFILE
Matthias Meiners and Daniel Onnen in the “cage” of an E-40.
Generator service technicians specialise in the repair and maintenance of ENERCON
annular generators. Their tasks range from visual inspections to cleaning and the re-
pairing of paint defects to the bridging or – in extreme cases – replacement of coils,
pole shoes, or windings. A prerequisite for the job is a sound foundation in electrics,
gained for example during vocational training as electric machine mechanic, as well
as the ability to work at height and physical fitness. Currently, new generator service
teams are being formed for France, Canada, Italy, and Scandinavia.
Generator service technician
Key qualifications:
Vocational training in electrotechni-
cal engineering
Enthusiasm for wind energy; physical
fitness; ability to work at heights
Tasks and responsibilities:
Service & maintenance of electronic
components of WEC, esp. generator
Advantages:
+ Various tasks pertaining to the main-
tenance of WEC generators
+ Practical introduction to all aspects of
the job
+ Highest standards of safety
+ Career opportunities within the
ENERCON Servi ce organisation
manufacturing company in East Frisia. “In addition, you need to enjoy travelling,” adds Meiners. About five or six times a year, the two ge-nerator specialists from the ENERCON Service team for Northwestern Germany travel on international support assignments. “We get a few days’ notice, and then we’re off to France, Sweden, Taiwan, or New Zealand.” Such deployments may take anywhere be tween five days and four weeks.
JOB PROFILE WINDBLATT 02 | 2010 15
“Our work requires the ability to work very precisely and thoroughly as well as a lot of creativity, physical fitness, and strength,” says Onnen. Creativity is needed e.g. during troubleshooting and for the upgrading of operating equipment, but also when devising interim solutions for problems until required spare parts arrive on site. And regarding the need for strength, one only needs to consider the fact that one pole shoe of an ENERCON turbine may weigh up to several hundreds of kilograms. Of course, chain hoists and other lifting equip-ment are used to make the replacing of components ea-sier, but some heavy manual work remains.
Onnen and Meiners also perform routine maintenance work: Typically, this is preceded by a report from a Service electricians team who has carried out a visu-al in spection of the generator. The generator service experts then look for dirt and flaking paint on rotor and stator and work such spots with a brush befo-re applying new paint to patch any defective spots.
“You need a lot of electrical know-how to be able to re-pair an annular generator. We used to acquire this special knowledge through ‘learning by doing’ within the team, but nowadays ENERCON provides special training for staff to teach them in this field,” says Onnen. He is a qua-lified electric machine mechanic and had already gained experience with generators before joining ENERCON six years ago: He did his apprenticeship at an electric motor
Working on the ENERCON annular generator: repairing paint defects; using the multimeter to measure resistance; crimping the new sensor onto the cable end.
WINDBLATTRainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, President of EREF
“In Europe, 100 %
renewables is
feasible by 2050”
Windblatt: The European Climate Foundation (ECF) in their “Roadmap 2050” study foresees a low carbon supply in 2050 for Europe with 40 % to 60 % of the electricity being produced by nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and storage. This is by no means 100 % renewables, as promoted by the EREC...Hinrichs-Rahlwes: The discussion about the future of our energy supply is in the works and this is fine! Among the supporters of ECF you can find many important actors from the conventional energy sup-pliers. This is why I would prefer to underline that these people are seriously considering renewable shares up to 80 % by 2050, no longer calling such scenarios absurd or utopian – an assessment which only a few years ago would have granted them strong public support. Nowa-days, we can prove by a study called “REthinking2050”, done by EREC that 100 % renewables by 2050 is possible and would imply numerous economic and ecological advantages. But of course the incumbent energy system will continue to claim and underline by more studies that for the near future energy security is impossible without coal and nuclear. Through continued information and good practice examples, in Europe and beyond, we are striving for effective and successful po-licies towards an energy supply provided completely from renewables.
According to the Renewables Directive, 20 % of the European Union’s final energy consumption in 2020 should be covered by renewable energies. What are the main challenges to reach this target?Hinrichs-Rahlwes: The target and the directive are important milestones. Until summer, all member states have to elaborate their renewable energy action plans and notify them to the European Com-mission. Renewable Energy Associations are actively accompanying the implementation of the directive. We must launch ambitious po-
licies in all member states now, for example feed-in systems like the German EEG for the electricity sector, support systems which are independent from annual budgetary decisions or building obligations for the heating sector, and effective incentives for bio diesel, bio etha-nol and electro-mobility from renewable sources.
Onshore wind energy is by far the most cost-effective and mature technology among renewable energies. At the same time, on the Euro-pean level offshore wind power is being increasingly discussed. Why?Hinrichs-Rahlwes: On the one hand, there is the interest of the oligopolies of the incumbent energy system in claiming that electri-city supply can only be secured by big and centralised structures. On the other hand, there is misinformation and prejudice against onshore wind. From past experience, we can see that offshore wind energy is much more complicated and expensive than onshore wind power. Thus, offshore wind farms can only be implemented by big utilities. Opposition to onshore wind farms was mostly overcome, when the local and regional population was adequately informed and involved. Thus, in the years to come, onshore wind will continue to deliver the major share of electricity produced by wind in Europe.
Is the EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger the right man to promote and implement growth of renewable energies in Europe? Hinrichs-Rahlwes: Mr. Oettinger knows very well that to a large extent the success of his work will be assessed in the light of clear and visible progress in the deployment of renewable energies in Eu-rope. In public, he has repeatedly stated his commitment to renewab-les and his intention to cooperate with the renewable energy industry and associations. We are happy to accept this invitation.
The “Roadmap 2050” study of the European Climate Foundation, which is supported by actors from conven-
tional energy suppliers, is discussing renewable electricity shares of 60 to 80 %. This is far from the 100 %
renewable supply promoted by the European Renewables Umbrella Organisation’s (EREC) “REthinking 2050”
initiative, but a good start for discussion, says Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, the President of the European
Renewable Energies Federation (EREF), a member of EREC.
Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes.
Pict
ure:
ERE
C