WIND POWER

VI64 blades - bigger than a queue of estas has revealed the details of its next
London double decker buses
80m
V154-7.0MW blade length
V generation dedicated offshore wind
turbine, currently near the end of its
design development stage.
This is a tale that grew in the telling. When
the new Vestas VI64 was first announced it
was to be a less powerful unit. In the meantime,
maybe megawatts have got smaller, or
ambitions larger, but the capacity of the new
giant on the horizon is after all to be 7 MW,
not the 6 MW advertised.
8.38m Megawatts have not shrunk, although aims
London Routemaster length may have become more ambitious, but as
others have discovered before them. Vestas

www.modernpowersystems.com May 2011 Modern Power Systems 1 3

 WIND POWER

Evolution of a giant

Dimensions of the Vestas V164

7.0 MW offshore turbine

Swept area 21.124 m

Power output, MW 7.0
187m Blade length 80 m
Min. hub height 105 m
\
Rotor diameter 164 m
Tip height 187 m
Tota i weight -800 ton

Sea level

V39-500kW V80-2.0MW V112-3.0MW V164-7.0MW

engineers found that the safety limitations
placed on rotational speed could be met after
all at a higher rating.
Part of this is owed to the safety-first design.
Vestas has bought its experience at great
expense, especially at Horns Rev, and plans to
make the most of it. The emphasis for the VI64
is on reliability and low electricity production
cost, and the design therefore is not radical but
based squarely on the V112,3 M W unit, of which
it is a sized-up version. And it truly is a giant, as
the graphics on this and the previous page show.
A single blade on its own dwarfs a whole traffic
queue of London double decker buses.
The company is now at the point where it
must start to invest more heavily, and it has
made it plain that it is not prepared to do that
without an assured return. The new unit has
been designed specifically for the waters of
northern Europe and it is northern European
countries - in particular the UK, Germany, 164 metre
the Scandinavian states and The Netherlands
- which are expected to provide the necessary
order pipeline and a continuation of their wind
power-friendly energy policies. In a word -
subsidies. One card that it hopes will play well
with the UK government is the decision to
develop and make the blades for the prototype
at its Isle of Wight R&D centre, whose
manufacturing facility was closed down two
years ago. The company is thinking well
beyond the size suggested by an 80m blade, as
the IoW test rig can handle a blade of 100 m
length. And there is also a tentative plan to
open a new factory at Sheerness, in SE
England, to make the VI64.
Because it is working from an established
design Vestas is confident about the The VI64 rotor sweeps an area large
construction of the first prototype, which is enough to take four A380 airbuses
expected to be in existence by Q4 of 2012. Serial

Some doubts have been expressed on this score, but 20 MW wind

turbines are feasible, according to a new report, published in April, from
the EU-funded UpWind project, and launched at the recent EWEA Annual
Event in Brussels. The UpWind project explored the design limits of
upscaling wind turbines to 20 MW and found that they would have rotor
diameters of around 200 metres, compared to 120 m or so on today's
5 MW turbines. Such turbines could be a solution for expanding Europe's
offshore wind energy capacity, providing several times the amount of
electrical energy at lower costs than today's turbines.
EWEA forecasts that wind energy will meet 26-34% of Europe's electricity
demand by 2030, with almost as much electricity coming from offshore
turbines as from those onshore. 20 MW machines could be a cost-
efficient way of reaching these levels of production. However, according
to the UpWind report, the 20 MW turbine requires a new, innovative,
tailored design to make it work. 'Upwind found that making a 20 MW
machine is not as simple as just upscaling today's 5 MW turbines,' said
Jos Beurskens of the Netherlands' Energy Research Centre (ECN), who led
the project along with the UpWind co-ordinator Peter Hjuler Jensen from
the Danish Technical University Risoe DTU. 'We identified key innovations
to the design, materials and way the turbine is operated' said Beurskens.
UpWind suggests several innovations, including, primarily, the following.
Lowering fatigue loads on blades allows longer and lighter blades to be built.
Loads can be lowered in two ways, by pre-bending blades and using more
flexible materials - this could lower fatigue loads by 10% - and by employing
individual blade control -this could lower fatigue loads by 20-30%. This
could be achieved by making the blade in two sections {like an aeroplane
wing), allowing each to be controlled separately, a measure that could
lower fatigue loads by 15%. It also makes it easier to transport the blade.
The anticipated 'smart' wind turbine of the future would be ac
its position and the pitch of its blade to local wind conditions. In wind
farm layouts lowering the power output of the first row of turbines allows
for higher overall wind farm efficiency.
• Putting sensors on one wind turbine allows the fatigue loading on the
other turbines in the cluster to be estimated if the relationship of
fatigue loading between the wind turbines is known.
• Loads can be alleviated preventatively by evaluating an imminent wind
gust before it arrives at the turbine. A nacelle-mounted light detection
and ranging system (LIDAR) would be sufficiently accurate for wind
energy applications.
Although much research is still needed, Beurskens believes we could see
20 MW turbines in operation by 2020. 'Intuitively, I believe we'll see the
20 MW turbines used within 10 years,' he says. 'That is, providing they
are the cheapest option.'
However 20 MW turbines could be an option only on paper if the
EU does not invest more in wind energy research, commented
Christian Kjaer, CEOof the European Wind Energy Association.
'The findings of UpWind allow the industry to significantly advance
its knowledge of how to develop more cost-efficient, larger turbines,
expected mostly for the huge expansion of offshore wind energy.
However this knowledge will never translate into reality if the EU does
not make a clear commitment to wind energy research', he said. 'The
industry is committed to funding its share of the €6 billion European
Wind Initiative. It is now time for the EU and Member States to finance
their share to ensure the innovations of UpWind and other projects
can be further developed and applied.'

www.modernpowersystems.com May 2011 Modern Power Systems 15

WIND POWER

Legally binding EU targets for 2020

Added Generation Share Operational data V164 V112
2010-20 MW 2010 GWh 2020
Coal power generation 20 600 595 365 17%
Rated power 7000 kW 3000 kW
Oil power generation 804 21 085 1%
Nominal rotor speed: 10.5 rpm 13.8 rpm
Gas power generation 59 824 917 412 26%
Operational rotor speed: 4.8-12.1 rpm 8.1 - 19.0 rpm
Nuclear power generation 11 614 871 835 25%
Hydro power generation 9% Cut-out wind speed: Not specified 25 m/s
11 756 333 940
Renewables power generation 213 384 760 381 ,22% Cut-in wind speed: 4 m/s 4 m/s
CCS power generation 3 399 24 763 1% Operational temperature range: -10to25''C -20''Cto40''C
Extreme temperature range: -lSto35°C -30 to 40°C
Totai 321 381 3 524 782 100% Wind class lECS IEC61400-3:IEC1B

Onshore wind energy 99 477 314 587 9%

Offshore wind energy 35 334 132 094 Rotor diameter: 164 m 112m
Swept area: 21 124 m' 9 852 m^
Source: EER and National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAR) Weight of nacelle, inc hub 390 ± 10% tonne Not specified
Weight of blade 35 tonne Not specified
Structural design life 25 years 25 years
Global offshore wind capacity to be added
2010-2025 by region
Frequency: 50 Hz 50 Hz/60Hz
12,000
Converter type: Full scale Full scale
I I Europe converter converter
10,000 t í North America Generator type: Permanent Permanent
1 1 Asia/Pacific magnet magnet
8,000 -r—— ~r>-—^ Nominal voltage: 33 - 35 and 66 kV
Power regulation Pitch Pitch
: 6,000 regulated with regulated with
variable speed variable speed
Gearbox 3-stage 4-stage
planetary/helical planetary/helical
Air brake Full blade Full blade
feathering with feathering with
3 pitch cylinders 3 pitch cylinders
2010 2015 2020 2025
Source: EER i

production is set to begin in QI 2015 provided
that by then a firm order backlog is in place to
justify the substantial investment needed.
What it is emphatically not doing, says the
company, is developing a design from the
V120-4.5 MW offshore unit on which it started
work a few years ago, and then abandoned.
World market
According to Anders Soe-Jensen, president of
Vestas Offshore, the offshore wind market is
set to really take off over the coming years, but
Cutaway of the V112
nacelle Interior, the template
for the VI64 except that the
converter and transformer (located left of
the drive) will be placed down-tower
more so in some parts of the world tlian in
others: 'We expect the major part of offshore
wind development to happen in the Northern
part of Europe, where the conditions at sea are
particularly rough. Based on our broad
offshore experience and our many years as
pioneers within the offshore wind industry, we
have specifically designed the VI64-7.0 MW
to provide the highest energy capture and the
highest reliability in this rough and
challenging environment. This makes our new
turbine an obvious and ideal choice for
instance for many UK Round 3 projects.'
Vestas sees lowering the the cost of energy
production from offshore wind as both
attractive to customers and essential for the
industry. It aims to reduce this cost in two
ways. First, through the unit's inherent power
density via its very large swept area. Second,
by offering a unit tailored to European
offshore conditions.
Because of the potential market size, the
VI64 business case is based on olTshore
Northern European sales, but the position is
not fixed. Should market demand justify it.
Vestas will take the unit to other parts of the
world in due time.
Aiming at reliability
The innovative aspect of the new turbine is,
primarily, its size and consequently much
increased energy capture. The "proven
technology' part of the equation is represented
by, among other things, the medium-speed
drive train solution.
'We actually kept all options open from the
start, running two separate parallel R&D
development tracks; one focusing on direct
drive and one on a geared solution. It soon
became clear that if we wanted to meet the
customers' expectations about lowest possible
cost of energy and high business case certainty
we needed a perfect combination of
innovation and proven technology and so the
choice could only be to go for a medium-speed
drive-train solution,' says Finn Strom
Madsen, president of Vestas Technology
R&D about this particular design choice. He
concludes: 'Offshore wind customers do not
want new and untested solutions. They want
reliability and a good business case.'
Certainly the gear train decision is the most
intriguing of Vestas' choices for the VI64,
given the trend away from it among other
manufacturers. But Vestas believes the
reliability aspect trumps all others. The core of

1 6 Modern Power Systems May 2011 www.modernpowersystems.com


its reasoning lies in offshore fault history.
Faults that will engender unit failure occur four
times more often in the power electronics and
control systems, says the company, than in the
drive train, and the power electronics for a
gearless unit has four times as many
components. So it makes sense to make the
power electronics simpler, rather than the drive
train. Moreover the rare-earth elements used
for direct drive generators are expensive, and in
limited supply.
Why such a large turbine? Because, says
Vestas, 70% of the total build cost of an
onshore array is in the capital cost of the
turbines, and even offshore it is still 35%. The
cost of the turbines therefore is absolutely
critical in the payback equation, and the fewer
the turbines the better the cost density and
therefore the return.
Design features
The main design features of the VI12 unit have
been preserved in the V164. Some of them have
been modified. The blade is bigger but its 'B'
profile is identical, and it is made from the
same materials - mainly carbon fibre and glass
fibre. The R&D effort that went into the VI12
blade design resulted in what Vestas calls 'a
Making waves in Welsh waters
Staff report
n innovative project to generate tidal
A energy in Ramsey Sound, off the
coast of Wales, has been given the go
ahead by the UK's Fnergy and
Climate Change secretary Chris Huhne. The
Welsh Assembly government has also granted
the necessary licence and coastal protection
consent. The project uses Tidal Energy Ltd's
1.2 MW 'Deltastream' device and will provide
electricity to the local distribution network
during its 12 month test period. It has been
specifically designed to be sensitive to the local
environment.
DeltaStream concept
The DeltaStream device is a nominal 1.2MW
unit which sits on the seabed without the need
for a positive anchoring system, generating
electricity from three separate horizontal axis
turbines mounted on a cotnmon frame. There
is no reason in principle why the concept
should not be extended indefinitely to make
www.modernpowersystems.com
giant stride in aerodynamics" enabling it to
produce a relatively light and productive blade
that delivers the greatest possible output with
the least possible load on the turbine tower.
This is the so-called 'B' profile which results
in a quiet turbine during normal operation,
but also has a stealth mode, a low-noise mode
that can be configured for local regulations
and keeps within defined decibel ranges
without significantly affecting productivity.
Another bonus, to judge by orders for the
V112, is that the industry has accepted Vestas'
explanation that the cause of a blade failure
last autumn in one of its prototypes was a one-
off caused by "human error' (what other kind
is there?) during manufacture of the blade.
The VI64 is a medium voltage unit (the VI12
is low voltage) to reduce I^R losses at the higher
power rating. This also reduces the cost of the
converter and transformer, overall. The
gearbox and generator are lower speed versions
(400 rpm, medium speed) of those in the VI12
(500 rpm, high speed) to achieve a smaller
gearing ratio to the rotor. The gearing geometry
is therefore slightly different - a three stage
planetary gearbox compared to four stages in
the VI12. And to reduce nacelle weight the
converter and transformer have been moved
arrays of underwater generators. A farm of
units forms a simple compact pattern with
spurs to a central power transmission line. The
use of three turbines on a single triangular
frame about 30 m wide produces a low centre
of gravity, enabling the device to satisfy its
structural stability requirements including the
avoidance of overturning and sliding.
The location chosen for the trial is a fiat
bedrock shelf in the north of Ramsey Sound.
The height of the turbine when operating
allows at least 12 m of clear water above the
blade tips at the lowest tide, so offers no threat
to the boats that currently use the Sound.
DeltaStream was conceived by marine
engineer Richard Ayre with initial research
funding from Pembrokeshire Coast National
Park Marine Nature Reserve. Experts from
Cranfield University in England undertook
detailed design and optimisation of the blade
design with funding from Carbon
Connections. It uses the same concept as a
wind turbine combined with the working
principles of a ship's propeller. The benefits
and advantages of this design are said to be its
lightweight gravity foundation, the ease with
which it can be deployed and recovered (by a
single crane working from a fioating platform )
ease of maintenance and manufacturing
simplicity and low cost, primarily because it
uses standard, off the shelf components. It is
able to operate in various water depths and
velocities and has a low environmental impact.
Energy transfer
DeltaStream's oscillating nacelle is said to
allow maximum energy transfer, while the
device utihses fixed pitch blades tailored to
WIND POWER
down tower to a position above the transition
piece, 20-30 metres above mean sea level.
Features inherited directly from the VI12
include "load reduced operation', which
provides extra security at geographically
complex sites, where narrow sectors with
extreme gusts and other abnormal wind
conditions can occur, and enables the turbine
to automatically protect itself against
avoidable wear which can damage the turbine
and shorten the service life of some
components. A parallel feature, which Vestas
attributes to advanced power electronics
combined with a fiexible operations strategy,
allows the operator to increase power
production by temporarily increasing the
output of the turbine in favourable conditions.
Main component preheating, using the
cooling system reject heat to prevent
condensation, has also been retained. Primary
components - the generator, gearbox,
converter and the blade hydraulic system are
heated internally when the turbine restarts
after a production stop in cold climates.
Similarly automatic lubrication of the pitch
system, the hub. the yaw system, the main shaft
and the generator, which reduces the frequency
of service calls, has been retained. EH
TIDAL ENERGY
maximise the energy extracted from the tidal
flow distribution at the deployment site. A
mechanical yaw system and controls have
been designed to allow the nacelles to oscillate
to seek the optimum fiow. A 15 m diameter
rotor will extract most energy from the water
fiow at a height of 20 m or so above the seabed.
For maintenance the device is lifted in its
entirety from the ocean bed, which can be done
very quickly. The method of deployment
allows the 11 kV grid cable to be connected
using an oilfilledjunction box at the surface,
thereby obviating the need for subsea
connections, which would require divers or
remotely operated vehicles that are difficult, if
not impossible, to use in fast fiowing currents.
The device can be installed in a range of
water depths including deep sea where
currents are strongest and it is capable of being
deployed in all UK waters with suitable tidal
velocities. The vast majority of the tidal
resource in UK waters occurs at depths greater
than 45m which is too deep for jack-up barges
and therefore for devices requiring piled
foundations. ¡¿¡^
May 2011 Modern Power Systems 1 9
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