Case Studies / Turbine Retrofit: Quebec, Canada

Replacement of cup and vane anemometers that were breaking in cold, moist conditions

Background

A wind energy company had several wind parks located in the mountains, close to the coast. Due to the location there was high humidity and, in the winter, very cold conditions. Their 600 MW of turbines all had mechanical cup and vane anemometers which were continually failing and then having to be re-built. In addition, heavy icing was stopping the mechanical sensors from working, causing turbine downtime and lost revenue. Even when re-built, the anemometers would break again after 6-18 months with bearings failure.

To halt this costly cycle of replacement the company decided to invest in better wind sensors. The customer approached us and we installed a small number of our FT702 wind sensors as a test.

Results

The test was hugely successful with the FT702 ultrasonic wind sensors perfectly able to cope with the harsh conditions. Due to the lack of icing the customer experienced extended uptime with no replacement cycle needed. The FT sensors will not need replacing for years. The reduced costs meant that the customer was able to recoup the costs of the new FT wind sensors in a short period of time.

Thank you for your extra effort throughout the past weeks supporting the accelerated delivery of the ultrasonic anemometers to us. We especially appreciate your “customer centricity”, clear communication, and accommodation of our director during his visit to your factory.

The efforts of your team have been critical to the retrofit of more than 200 wind turbines that were experiencing technical difficulties due to severe icing. With the support of the FT team we have been able to complete the retrofits on schedule and minimize the impact to our customers.

Please extend our personal gratitude to all members on your team that supported this effort and we look forward to future cooperation between FT Technologies and ourselves.

Executive Sourcing Leader, Renewables
Executive Product Service Leader, Renewables