Restrictions and Regulations of Wind Power
Rising demand in wind energy production comes with increased associated restrictions and regulations. Apart from the higher level of information required, variations in regional regulations and fluctuations in energy prices are continuously adding complexity in wind asset operations, creating more challenges to maintain service level with the existing capacity of any Remote Operation Centers (ROCs).
Challenges for Remote Operation Centers (ROCs)
While operators are dealing with a surge in data from different systems of numerous assets they have to monitor and control, it becomes more challenging for them to respond to changes in operation conditions in the minimal time since any error codes from wind turbines are received, which are always checked by operators manually with an average time to respond of 15-30 minutes. For the 1000 turbines, the potential production loss can go to 12000 hours.
Energy Performance Optimization with Automation
The optimization of all the parameters that influence energy production has an important role in obtaining the maximum efficiency of wind turbines. Under wind operation automation, a logic engine is constructed to undertake the same process as a human would as soon as the operation is under unfavorable conditions – from unsuitable wind directions and speeds, weather conditions, to detection of birds and bats and even the fluctuation of energy market prices, the turbines can be programmed to stopped or reset autonomously.
Compared to conventional commands set by ROCs, this process can be reduced to less than 5 seconds. The operation protocols are set based on commercial requirements, minimizing potential energy loss during the production process.
ARSOS Robot of Green Eagle Solutions
Green Eagle Solutions has developed the technology of Autonomous Renewable Smart Operations Software (ARSOS) to achieve the goal of wind operation automation since 2018. Their software robot, which is called ARSOS Robot is designed to deal with the complex and legacy SCADA systems in the wind industry, allowing users to enjoy benefits of operation automation process without the need to alter their existing softwares.
ARSOS Robot is programmed to cope with different operational strategies from standard fault handling, environmental restrictions compliance, asset lifetime extension (LTE) to energy pricing market monitoring. Not only does the solution helps to increase the capacity of ROCs, it ensures the energy production is with the profitable range for commercial benefits.
RWE is an existing client of Green Eagle Solutions, and its scalability issues were successfully solved by adopting ARSOS Robot in a portfolio of >400 wind turbines. According to Antonio González, Head of Fleet Control Room of RWE, “ARSOS has surpassed our expectations and has proven that we can operate a fleet twice as big with the same resources”.
