Offshore Condition Monitoring

Session C8 | Day 2, Weds 30 June, 13.45-15.00pm

Session Summary
The session will start with introductory presentations on overall issues. Three industry panellists will then debate the topic of what lessons can be transferred from experiences onshore to offshore condition monitoring.

• Professor Peter Tavner, Professor of New & Renewable Energy, Durham University
• Dr Simon Watson, Head of Wind and Water Power Research, CREST
• Wayne Nussey, Asset Improvement Engineer, E.ON Climate & Renewables UK
• Gerald Rolfe, General Manager - SKF Reliability Systems, SKF (UK)
• Regis Decoret, O&M engineer, GL-Garrad Hassan
• Scott Mackenzie, Associate Director Asset Management, NaturalPower UK

	Chair: Professor Peter Tavner, Professor of New & Renewable Energy, Durham University Peter Tavner is Professor of New & Renewable Energy at Durham University. He was Group Technical Director of an international business manufacturing wind turbines and electrical machines. He joined the University in 2003. He is Vice President of the European Academy of Wind Energy, Principal Investigator of Supergen Wind Consortium, and member of the EU FP7 ReliaWind Consortium. His current research work is on the wind turbines and the importance of SCADA and CMS to improving their availability.
	Speaker: Dr Simon Watson, Head of Wind and Water Power Research, Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology, Loughborough University (CREST) An overview of wind turbine reliability and research in wind turbine condition monitoring With the move to offshore wind farms, and the reduced opportunity for maintenance, there is a greater need to increase the reliability and availability of wind turbines. This presentation will give an overview of wind turbine reliability statistics and showcase some of the techniques which are being researched in order to improve the health monitoring of modern wind turbines. The material in the presentation will draw on the results of the Wind Energy research consortium funded under the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s flagship Supergen initiative. Significant insight can be gained by looking at the reliability of various wind turbine sub-assemblies drawing on information from publically available databases. This information can be used to target health monitoring strategies and help in the design of more reliable future wind turbines. SCADA data from wind turbine systems can provide valuable information on the health of individual turbines though the challenge is always to identify the key channels which are giving useful information as well as the best techniques to analyse the data. There is also a need to monitor additional parameters or to monitor sub-assemblies of the wind turbine with greater temporal resolution than provided by a SCADA system. Examples include: vibration monitoring; high frequency monitoring of the power output; analysis of gearbox oil; and measurements of blade strain. This presentation will look at the use of some of these techniques and conclude that the analysis of a combination of different parameters provides the best way forward for a reliable condition monitoring system. Biography Dr Simon Watson has been working in the field of wind energy for 20 years. He began his career at the Energy Research Unit of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, researching into wind resource assessment, wind power forecasting, the integration of wind power into electricity grids and climate change impacts on the energy supply industry. He then moved to what later became Good Energy, a supplier of green electricity to domestic and small commercial customers, helping to set up the settlements and trading systems. In 2001, he was appointed as a senior lecturer at the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology at Loughborough University and now heads up the wind and water power research. His main areas of research include: wind turbine condition monitoring, wind resource assessment in complex environments, the performance of small wind turbines in the built environment, and climate change impacts on wind energy. He is Programme Director for the long-established MSc in Renewable Energy Systems Technology at Loughborough University, and is a board member of the European Renewable Energy Research Centre’s Agency (Eurec).
	Speaker: Wayne Nussey, Asset Improvement Engineer, E.ON Climate & Renewables UK Wayne Nussey started work in the electricity industry with East Midlands Electricity Board 'PowerGen' E.ON. He commenced with EC&R in 2004 in Operations before joining the EC&R Engineering team, 3 years ago. Wayne is an Electrical Engineer with a strong background in Power Quality monitoring and investigation. In his current role, as an Asset Improvement Engineer, Wayne is responsible for the retro-fitting of Condition Based Monitoring to our +MW turbines and supporting his Operations colleagues with Engineering issues.
	Speaker: Gerald Rolfe, General Manager - SKF Reliability Systems, SKF (UK) Gerald Rolfe has worked for SKF for the last 26 years, with a number of different roles and responsibilities during this period, including 10 years as Engineering Manager for Industrial & Service Divisions, providing machinery design and applications engineering advice to all SKF customers in UK, and has worked for the last 12 years as General Manager for SKF Reliability Systems in the UK. His current role includes leading a team of skilled Sales & Technical engineering staff to deliver a range of Asset Management Services to a wide number of industries in the UK and Eire, including SKF Consultancy services, Condition Monitoring systems and solutions, Onsite and Remote diagnostic services and long term service agreements. SKF comprises of 3 main Divisions, with 40,000 staff, which offer 5 primary business platforms to its customers worldwide: Bearings and Units, Seals & Sealing solutions, Lubrication Systems, Mechatronics and Services. SKF Reliability Systems is the core of the Services Platform and is one of the largest manufacturers of Condition Monitoring technology, supported by a global team of around 1500 engineers and staff.
	Speaker: Régis Decoret, O&M engineer, GL-Garrad Hassan Régis is mechanical engineer and has previously worked as O&M engineer for a wind turbine supplier and a wind farm operator. He is currently managing the wind turbine inspections department at GL-Garrad Hassan UK, providing inspection services to operators or lenders, using various condition monitoring techniques. He also works with operators to implement risk-based maintenance strategies where remote condition monitoring is used to allow early fault detection and cost effective repair.
	Speaker: Scott Mackenzie, Associate Director Asset Management, NaturalPower UK Scott Mackenzie has been involved in the wind industry with Natural Power for over six years. An electrical engineering graduate from Glasgow Caledonian University, he has a strong track record in both maintenance engineering management and project management within the chemical industry and nuclear industry prior to joining Natural Power to head up its Due Diligence team in 2004. Scott now applies his experience to the fast growing Asset Management business of Natural Power which provides services on approximately 15% of the UK’s current installed wind energy capacity.