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| Year XIV

| Year XIV
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30730 San Javier / Murcia (Spain)
Tel: +34 968 191 128
Fax: +34 968 191 217
www.himoinsa.com

4 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

 TAKE ADVICE
SPAIN
EHEC- EUROPEAN
UK SPAIN HYDROGEN ENERGY GERMANY
ECOBUILD EWEA CONFERENCE NEW ENERGY
Date: 4-6 March Date: 10-13 March Date: 12-14 March Date: 20-23 March
Place: London Place: Barcelona Place: Sevilla Place: Husum
Email: info@ecobuild.co.uk Email: events@ewea.org Email: info@ehec.info Email: OBS@messehusum.de
Web: www.ecobuild.co.uk Web: www.ewea.org/annual2014/ Web: http://www.ehec.info Web: www.new-energy.de

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GERMANY CHINA SPAIN ENERGY HANNOVER
Date: 7-11 April
ENERGY STORAGE INTERSOLAR BIOPTIMA Place: Hannover
Date: xxx March Date: 25-28 March Date: 2-4 April Email: www.hannovermesse.de
Place: Düsseldorf Place: Beijing Place: Jaén Web: www.hannovermesse.de/en/about-
Email: info@messe-duesseldorf.de Email: pang@intersolarchin.com Email: general@ifeja.org the-trade-show/news/tradeshows-
Web: www.energy-storage-online.com Web: www.intersolarchina.com Web: www.bioptima.es lineup/energy

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Date: 8-9 April Place: Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande Date: 5-8 May Date: 6-7 May
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6 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

EDITORIAL
The South African energy revolution
THE ENERGY SCENE IN SOUTH AFRICA IS CHANGING RAPIDLY. THE COUNTRY HAS
gone from being one where the energy mix had remained un-
changed for decades, with an almost total dependence on coal
for power production, meaning it was always ranked among the
world’s worst CO2 emitters, and major supply problems caused by
a weak and unstable network, to today being an energy market
in full development that is a priority destination for companies
and large investors. In fact, international reports –such as the one
produced by IHS on the photovoltaic market– place South Africa
at the top of the league table of the most attractive countries for
investment, ahead of Thailand, Turkey, Romania and Mexico.
The winning strategy of Jacob Zuma’s government to diversify
energy generation sources is based on playing every number on
the roulette wheel – nuclear power, gas (including exploring pos-
sible shale gas deposits), hydro power and renewables. Deserving
of particular mention is the government’s plan to achieve a target
of 30% generation from renewable sources by 2030 and to have
no less than 18,000 MW installed in renewables in the next 15
years, especially when you realise that South Africa has had no
solar (PV or CSP), wind, biomass or geothermal power generation
facilities to date.
The tool being used to develop this ambitious plan is the Re-
newable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Pro-
gramme (REIPPPP), which so far has gone through three rounds,
the last of which was held at the end of 2013. Two more remain
before completion of the package of five rounds planned by the
Department of Energy (DoE). Some of the projects awarded in the
first round in November 2011 have already been connected to the
grid. The first of these was the 75MW photovoltaic solar plant in
Kalkbult, in the Northern Cape region, which was connected last
September.
The multinational companies competing in these tenders have
had, in general, a positive experience. The companies agree that
the system for awarding projects is objective and transparent.
However, they also stress the complexity of the process and the
tough requirements around hiring local personnel and the diffi-
culty in meeting the minimum quotas demanded under the rela-
ted legislation.
The main objectives of the transformation taking place in this
emerging power, where economic growth has been hindered by
high energy prices and all the problems stemming from the lack
of an electricity network in many parts of the country, are to con-
solidate the three main pillars underpinning any energy system
– ensuring security of supply and offsetting the existing installed
power deficit, thereby avoiding the constant and system-wide
black outs that have affected the network since 2007; reducing
the MWh price to achieve a competitive system; and improving
the environmental sustainability of the entire system.

D.L.: M-8085-2001 | ISSN: 1577-7855

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CONSULTING EDITORS
D. Ángel F. Germán Bueno, Ingeniero Industrial y Profesor de Univ. Zaragoza. D. Ahmed Moussa, Ingeniero Industrial y Presidente de Stratconsult, S.L. D.
José Luis García Fierro, Prof. de investigación del Instituto del Catálisis y Petroleoquímica del CESIC. D. Oscar Miguel Crespo, Dr. en Química y Resp. del
Dpto. de Energía de CIDETEC. Carlos Martínez Renedo, Ingeniero Industrial. PADE del IESE, Consultor y Director de Proyectos de Cogeneración y Biomasa. Co-
ordinador del Grupo de Usuarios del motor 18V34SG. D. Francisco Marcos Martín, Dr. Ingeniero de Montes y Profesor de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
D. Antonio Soria-Verdugo, Dpto. Ingeniería Térmica y de Fluidos de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. D. Eduardo Collado, director técnico de ASIF.

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8 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14


55MW PV installation in Israel
The Spanish enterprise Grupo
Clavijo has commenced work
on the implementation of a
photovoltaic solar park of 55
MW in power in the Israeli
settlement of Ohad. It was
decided to select the SP 1000
model from the Group´s wide
range of structures and track-
ers for this project, named
Tenerife Island council
promotes the installation
of wave energy plants
Tenerife Island Council Presi-
dent, Carlos Alonso, and
Langlee Wave Power CEO,
Julius Espedal, have signed
an agreement to promote
the installation of wave en-
ergy plants off the island of
Tenerife. The aim is to install
this type of sustainable en-
ergy off Tenerife as a viable,
competitive and efficient
alternative to other types of
energy currently in use. Nor-
wegian marine energy com-
pany Langlee Wave Power
has chosen the Canary Is-
lands as the manufacturing
site for its generator. This
semi-submergible floating
converter, known as the Ro-
busto, converts wave move-
ment into electrical energy.
The Island Council intends to
take an active part in devel-
oping, commissioning and
running the wave farms in
the northwest of the island.
10
LATEST GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS
Halutziot. This is a single-axis
tracker which stands out due
to its robustness, adaptability
to the terrain, flexibility in the
positioning of photovoltaic
modules, and extreme ease
of assembly. Furthermore, it
comes with a bearing patented
by Grupo Clavijo, and which
requires no maintenance.
The Langlee Robusto con-
verter combines cutting edge
Norwegian offshore tech-
nology with standard, low
maintenance components
and materials. Its innova-
tive design means that most
components can be manu-
factured or assembled in the
Islands, giving a boost to lo-
cal industry and creating a
skilled workforce in the badly
hit Canary Islands economy.
The converter has no visual
or environmental impact
and is compatible with wa-
ter sports.The north coast’s
wave conditions make it an
ideal location for Robusto,
which will have an output
of 132kW in the first phase
Langlee Wave Power recent-
ly signed a similar agreement
with the Lanzarote Island
Council to install a 500 kW
pilot plant at La Santa, in the
north of the island.
The facility is expected to be
delivered in May 2014, and
once operational will produce
110,000 Mwh per year, provid-
Promising pilot solar project at
Maamigili airport of Maldives
After a successful presen-
tation and fruitful nego-
tiations, The meeco Group
concluded an agreement
with one of the biggest
business corporation on the
Maldives islands, the Villa
Group, which owns and
operates the Maamigili air-
port. Villa Group, through
its Chairman Mr. Qasim on
his very birthday, and The
meeco Group shook hands
on the installation of the
largest solar PV installation
in the Maldives. The first of
several installations to be
Developing an application
to calculate the remuneration
of renewable energy power plants
Consulting firm Energy for
Business, focused on the en-
ergy industry, is currently de-
veloping an application that
allows calculating the remu-
neration of renewable energy
power plants and cogenera-
tion and waste management
installations, according to its
reasonable profitability.
As stated under Draft of
Spanish Royal Decree, by which
energetica
ing for up to 55,000 homes.
The park will cover an area of
4.5 km in length by 2.5 km in
width.
executed for Villa Group is
foreseen to be finalized in
the third quarter of this year.
This sun2live project will be a
ground installation synchro-
nized with local diesel gen-
erators and will be able to
provide 1,21 MWp of clean
electricity. Maldives’ gov-
ernment has been looking
for a long time to decrease
its energy dependency from
diesel and replace it by clean
and renewable energies. In-
deed, the cost of diesel goes
up to 20% the GDP of the
Maldives.
the activity of power genera-
tion for these installations is
outlined, the new remunera-
tion scheme provides compen-
sation for electricity production
as an additional income from
the sale to the energy market.
In this sense, this additional
compensation will pivot on the
calculations related to standard
investment and operation of
an installation-type.
INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
LATEST GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS
IHS senior analyst expects over 2 GW of
solar microinverter shipments in 2017
Microinverters continued to
gain traction in 2013, with
leading supplier Enphase con-
tributing 335 MW in shipments
and increasing its global market
share to approximately 4% in
revenue terms. The final quar-
ter of 2013 also saw Enphase
move closer to profitability. The
company is yet to make a prof-
it, but in Q4’13 it reduced its
operating loss to less than 1%.
With microinverter suppliers
finally within reach of a profit-
able business model, and de-
mand for their products set to
continue growing, the future
for microinverters is as posi-
tive as ever. Growing demand
in its domestic and export
markets will allow Enphase to
grow its shipments once again
in 2014, and increased vol-
umes along with further cost
improvements will mean that
The Spain & Southern Africa Renewable
Energies Consortium expands its
activities to the whole Africa
The Spain & Southern Africa
Renewable Energies Con-
sortium has started a pro-
cess of expansion into the
whole African continent.
With offices in Madrid and
Johannesburg, the Consor-
tium has fostered the devel-
opment of the Spanish re-
newable energy industry in
the Southern Africa region,
since its inception in 2011.
The Consortium is the
reference point for the
Spanish renewable energy
industry in countries such
as South Africa, Namibia,
Botswana, Zimbabwe and
Mozambique.
12
it is likely to achieve profitabil-
ity. Enphase leads a pack of
smaller pure-play microinverter
start-up suppliers that has re-
cently been joined by leading
traditional suppliers, SMA and
Power-One. All of these sup-
pliers are likely to benefit from
Enphase’s success in prov-
ing the advantages and value
propositions of microinverters.
Falling prices and rapid swings
in demand to regions have
made the last 18 months chal-
lenging for PV inverter manu-
facturers. The proven success
of disruptive technologies will
provide another unwelcome
challenge for traditional PV
inverter suppliers Microinvert-
ers accounted for over 30%
of inverter shipments to PV
systems of under 100 KW in
USA in 2013. They are firmly
established in the USA market
The main outcome of the
last General Assembly that
took place last December
in Madrid was to expand its
activity to the whole Afri-
can continent provided the
knowledge and expertise in
renewable energy that its
companies have gained in
the past.
The President of the Con-
sortium, Mr. José Benjumea,
stated “we have decided to
expand our activities to the
whole Africa, taking into
account the interests of our
companies as well as the
demand from both Spanish
and African authorities”.
where their momentum is pre-
dicted to continue to build. IHS
forecasts over 1 GW of annual
microinverter shipments to
USA in 2017. However, ship-
ments have historically been
limited outside USA. In Europe,
limited volumes have been
shipped to markets with strong
residential segments, such as
UK and France. However, in
Germany, the world’s largest
and most mature PV market,
microinverter solutions have
struggled to gain traction, with
the country’s well developed
and experienced network of
installers unwilling to move
away from using traditional
string inverters. This is set to
change with the world’s lead-
ing inverter supplier, SMA, re-
leasing its new Sunny Boy 240
microinverter in Germany. SMA
commands a market share of
Turboden enters the geothermal
market by the front door
Turboden, leading company
in Organic Rankine Cycle
(ORC) turbogenerators, for
distributed power genera-
tion employing renewable
sources and waste heat,
now part of the Mitsubi-
shi Heavy Industries Group
(MHI), will partner with
MHI, with the aim to ex-
pand globally its geother-
Power Electronics supplied its first 1
MW Freesun HEC solar inverter to Japan
Power Electronics has supplied
its´ first 1 MW Freesun HEC so-
lar inverter to a photovoltaic
plant in Kenan, located in Osaka
energetica
over 30% in Germany, and
was placed firmly as the num-
ber-one brand for inverter sup-
pliers in a recent survey carried
out by IHS. Its brand strength
and reputation for high quality
products is likely to help over-
come many of the concerns that
European customers have held
over microinverters and acceler-
ate their adoption in Germany
and the rest of Europe. IHS fore-
casts that despite the German
market slowing in 2014, mi-
croinverter shipments will more
than double in 2014 and reach
almost 60 MW in 2015. The
EMEA region is forecast to see
over 500 MW of microinverter
shipments in 2017. With micro-
inverters set to become more
widely adopted, global ship-
ments are forecast to increase
by over 40% a year on average
until 2017 – compared to just
13% for the total PV inverter
market. By 2017, total cumula-
tive microinverter shipments are
forecast to exceed 7 GW.
mal portfolio. Both com-
panies can cover all the
possible solutions required
by a geothermal developer
and can provide the best
optimized configuration for
that specific resource. To-
gether they will stand as a
fully-integrated supplier of
binary and steam geother-
mal power-plants.
Prefecture. Power Electronics is
considered in Japan as an alter-
native for maximum efficiency,
quality, flexibility and service.
INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
LATEST GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS
Advanced studies
of grid code compliance
for wind power for South Africa
South Africa, with the aim
of introducing more than
3.5GW of renewable energy
in the power grid by 2016,
describes in its grid code sev-
eral advanced requirements
for wind power integration.
Thus, the wind industry is re-
quired to carry out advanced
studies to demonstrate the
grid code compliance.
Energy to Quality, ac-
credited testing labora-
TECNOSA presents the Hofer
diaphragm compressors
Since they operate without
leakage, they are particularly
suitable for gases of highest
purity as well as explosive,
toxic and expensive gases.
Hofer diaphragm compres-
sors ensure a reliable com-
pression of various gases such
as hydrogen, helium, argon,
ethylene, fluorine, hydrogen
sulphide, chlorine, monosilane
14
tory and leader in advanced
electrical consulting, is ac-
tively participating in these
grid code compliance stud-
ies for Eskom, state energy
company in South Africa.
Precisely, adjusting and
demonstrating that a wind
power plant located in the
province of Western-Cape
meets the modern require-
ments described in the reg-
ulations.
or nitrogen trifluoride.Hofer
diaphragm compressors are
usually used for filling of stor-
age vessels, for feeding into
continuous processes or as
gas circulating compressors.
Hofer diaphragm compressors
are characterized by their de-
sign that makes the machines
exceptionally safe, reliable and
easy to maintain.
New permanent diplomatic
representatives at IRENA
The International Renewable
Energy Agency (IRENA) has
gained several additional per-
manent diplomatic representa-
tives in a succession of ceremo-
nies taking place over the last
several days at the Agency’s
headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
Ambassadors from a diverse
set of countries presented their
credentials to IRENA Director-
General, Adnan Z. Amin. They
included H.E. Mr. Ihab Emam
Hamouda, Ambassador for
Egypt; H.E. Mr. Osman Moussa
Darar, Ambassador for Djibou-
ti; H.E. Mr. Ravindran Robin
Nair, Ambassador for Fiji; H.E.
Mr. Ahmed Yousif Mohamed
Elsiddig, Ambassador for Su-
Multi-Si Solar cells surpass 19%
conversion efficiency
JA Solar announced that
its multi-crystalline silicon
solar cells have surpassed
19% conversion efficiency.
This latest improvement in
efficiency, achieved using
advanced cell technology
recently developed by JA
Solar’s R&D team, follows
the Company’s announce-
ment in August 2013
that its multi-Si cells had
achieved 18.3% conversion
efficiency, an industry re-
cord at the time. “By break-
ing the 19% efficiency bar-
rier with our multi-Si cells,
JA Solar has reached yet an-
other milestone in terms of
our ability to produce high-
performance solar products
in a cost-effective manner,”
said Mr. Yong Liu, chief op-
eration officer of JA Solar.
“The new cells are a further
energetica
dan; H.E. Mr. Giorgio Starace,
Ambassador for Italy and H.E.
Mr. Dionyssios Zois, Ambassa-
dor for Greece. The represen-
tatives join diplomats from the
UAE and Germany appointed
in November 2013. With the
appointments, each of the
countries establishes a Perma-
nent Representative to IRENA,
enabling Member States to
participate actively and con-
tinuously in IRENA activities.
The establishment of IRENA’s
Permanent Representative sys-
tem formed part of the United
Arab Emirates ratification of
the headquarters agreement
with IRENA on 9 October
2013.
testament to JA Solar’s un-
rivaled efforts to push the
boundaries of PV technolo-
gy, and their superior power
generation per unit of area
and lower installation cost
per watt will deliver signifi-
cant value to customers.”
JA Solar plans to commence
mass production of its new
multi-Si cells and integrate
them into module assembly
lines for commercial use in
the second half of 2014.
INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
 New certifications from Global Wind Organization for Avanti
Avanti Wind Systems, has
now achieved training certifi-
cations from Lloyd’s that meet
the demands from the inter-
national Global Wind Organi-
zation. That means that Avanti
Wind Systems now also offers
complete certified safety train-
ing for technicians, who work
in the turbines onshore and
offshore and can be done in
Avanti’s own training tower,
if the customer wants it. The
object of Global Wind Organi-
zation is to support an injury-
free work environment for
construction and operating of
wind farms on- and offshore.
To support this, GWO has de-
veloped standards for basic
safety training to provide per-
sonal working at wind farms
with sufficient knowledge to
obtain this target. GWO is
working together with most
of the wind turbine manufac-
turers and larger wind farm
owners in Europe and the
US. Both trainers and train-
ing facilities must be approved
by Lloyd’s to get certification
from GWO. At its factory in
Silkeborg, Denmark, Avanti
has built a training tower.
Along with the other training
facilities the training tower
is part of the GWO certifica-
tions. Recently the first team
of technicians went through
this training. It was a Train-
the-Trainers course, where five
of Avanti Wind Systems own
trainers inaugurated the new
facility. They are now ready to
teach other technicians from
around the world. Depend-
ing on the training request, a
training can now be carried
out either in Avanti’s new
training tower in Denmark - or
in a wind turbine farm any-
where in the world according
to the customers’ wish. How-
ever, using the training tower
in Denmark avoids downtime
while training is ongoing.

Offshore wind: AREVA has completed 50% of Trianel Wind park Borkum
AREVA has successfully installed located in the German North tember 2013. Located 45 kilo- an area of 56 km². This park will
20 of the 40 wind turbines at Sea. Installation of AREVA’s meters off the german coast, the produce its first megawatt-hour
the Trianel Wind park Borkum, M5000 turbines began in Sep- Trianel Windpark Borkum covers of wind power this year.

energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14 15

LATEST GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS
Large onshore wind potential in the Middle East and North Africa
Dii, the international alliance for
desert power, sees an enormous
potential for wind energy on the
southern shore of the Mediter-
ranean. While 2013 figures re-
cently indicated that the EU wind
energy market is consolidating,
Dii’s analysis shows that south
of the Mediterranean conditions
for onshore wind are particularly
favorable. Wind speeds at very
good sites e.g. in Western Mo-
rocco, central Algeria or Egypt
reach more than 8-10 m/s at 50
meters height. Suitable sites that
can be well connected to the
grid in Morocco, Algeria, Libya,
Egypt and in Saudi Arabia also
reach very good wind speeds.
In other words, wind energy is
cost competitive with current
mid and base load power plants.
Electricity from wind power costs
50-70 EUR/MWh at good sites in
MENA. Additionally, countries in
the region have approved very
ambitious wind power targets:
Approx. 20 GW have been tar-
geted by the following eight
MENA countries until 2020: Mo-
rocco (2 GW), Algeria (0.5 GW),
Tunisia (0.6 GW), Libya (1.5 GW),
Egypt (7.2 GW), Jordan (1.2
GW), and Saudi Arabia (5 GW).
The market growth in MENA
is already visible. Already today
1.4 GW are in operation, of
which 22% has been installed in
Expanding its activity in South Africa
Vector Cuatro continues its
development in South African
green power market. Since
April 2012 the company has
positioned itself for the ex-
pected growth of the renew-
able energy industry in the
country, supported by Solek,
its local partner. Vector Cuatro
currently offers in South Af-
rica technical services (project
due diligence, project design,
16
2013. Currently projects of 1.3
GW are either under construc-
tion or shortly before construc-
tion. Today onshore wind meets
less than 1% of the energy de-
mand in the region. In its latest
report, Desert Power: Getting
Started, Dii forecasted that on-
construction support, and
project management), con-
sulting services (selection and
negotiation of EPC contrac-
tors, project placement, proj-
ect financing advice) and as-
set management services. The
company has already been in-
volved in 14 different projects
in the country. Since 2007,
when the company began to
operate in the Renewable En-
shore wind could meet around
50% of the energy demand in
the region due to the cost com-
petitiveness of the technology
and the vast quantity of available
sites with favorable wind speeds.
Together with the Algerian
utility Sonelgaz, Dii has analyzed
ergy Industry, Vector Cuatro
has been able to increase its
portfolio becoming one of the
world’s leaders in green power
services.
Currently, the company has
more than 850 MW of assets
under management in projects
worldwide (Spain, Italy, France,
Bulgaria, and USA) and a track
record in excess of 3,500 MW
across the value chain, from
energetica
the wind potential in Algeria.
Given the very good wind condi-
tions at selected sites and assum-
ing favorable local financing op-
portunities, wind power plants in
Algeria can achieve LCOEs of 6.5
ct/kWh to 8.5 ct/kWh. When
including transmission costs to
Italy via a HVDC interconnector,
wind electricity exports from Al-
geria could amount to 9-10 ct/
kWh. Therefore electricity from
Algerian onshore wind plants
can be commercially competitive
at Italian wholesale market prices
in 2015.
Nevertheless the company
also adverts that market devel-
opment needs transparency and
secure land access, secure grid
access, a transparent permit-
ting landscape, access to cred-
itworthy customers and high-
quality meteorological data.
Priority should be given to prac-
tical renewable energy support
schemes and power purchase
agreements. An essential aspect
is long-term, secure access to the
grid. Local inhabitants should
benefit and be involved in the
development process. It is also
important for approval processes
to be transparent and standard-
ized. Reliable measurement and
irradiation data will contribute to
a foreseeable return on invest-
ment.
pre-construction to audit spe-
cialist services, among others.
Moreover, the firm has ad-
vised in the investment, struc-
turing and financing of over
2,100 million euros in solar PV
facilities, as well as additional
project funding for a volume
exceeding 700 million euros,
and in negotiating multiple
contracts for construction and
operation and maintenance.
INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
 “ZIV´S DCU” choosen for EDP’s
Creating a more first smart grid deployment
sustainable future for all EDP begins the deployment of a
PRIME AMI in Portugal, where CG
er in the world. CG offers a global
“ZIV smart grid solutions portfolio”
South Africans Automation will be the main sup-
plier of Data Concentrators. Since
covering various technologies, such
as PLC (G3-PLC, PRIME) and radio
2012, when CG Group Company (ZIGBee). ZIV Data concentrator
In South Africa, Iberdrola Ingeniería, in a joint venture acquired the smart grid solution was the first DCU certified by the
with South African constructor Group Five, was awarded provider ZIV company, CG has be- PRIME alliance and has a relevant
two contracts in November 2012 relating to the 27 MW come the main PRIME meter suppli- market share.
Klipheuwel wind farm and the 73.8 MW Noblesfontein
wind farm. The scope of the work at each wind farm
includes operation and maintenance for at least the war-
ranty period. In 2013, the consortium was selected by
Jasper Power Company for the construction of a 96 MW
photovoltaic plant, located near the city of Postmasburg,
in the Northern Cape Province. These contracts consoli-
date Iberdrola Ingeniería as the most international com-
pany in its industry, present in more than 30 countries. It
also reinforces the company’s presence in South Africa, a
country that has become strategic in recent years.

Leader of multi-brand
wind turbine maintenance services
reaches 2 GW milestone
Availon announced that its portfolio of wind turbine under
maintenance has reached the 2GW milestone since its founda-
tion in 2007. In just six years, Availon has established itself as
global leader of multi-brand wind turbine maintenance ser-
vices to reckon with. Availon has experienced steady growth
and currently employs a workforce of around 300 employees.
In addition to focusing on its core market of Germany, the
company is also steadily expanding its global strategic position
in the United States, Italy, Spain and Poland. In 2013, Availon
added 134 wind turbines to its portfolio in the USA and 105
in the Italian wind market. Much of the over 2GW output is
made of GE® 1.5 and Vestas® V80/V90 wind turbines as well
as wind turbines from Gamesa®.

energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14 17

LATEST GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS
Strategic deal
between SMA
and Danfoss
SMA Solar Technology and
Danfoss plan to enter into
a close strategic partner-
ship for a step change in
competitiveness. The two
leading system technol-
ogy specialists will take full
advantage of economies
of scale and joint develop-
ment initiatives. In addition,
Danfoss acquires 20% of
SMA’s outstanding shares
and plans to sell its com-
plete solar inverter business
to SMA. With the acquisi-
tion of Danfoss’ solar in-
verter business, SMA will
increase the attractiveness
of its product portfolio. Af-
ter the completion of the
transaction SMA will launch
new products for the fast
growing market segments
of medium-sized photo-
voltaic plants in Europe,
China and the USA. Dan-
foss acquires 6.94 million
of SMA shares at a price of
€43.57 per share from the
SMA founders, their trusts
and families. The trans-
action volume amounts
to 302,38 million. After
completion of the transac-
tion the freely tradable free
float of the SMA share will
be at 25.05%. The SMA
founders, their trusts and
families will hold 54.95%
of the SMA shares after the
transaction is completed.
Danfoss will not buy or sell
shares for a lock-up pe-
riod of at least 2 years. The
share purchase is subject to
regulatory approval. Clos-
ing of the acquisition of
shares and the cooperation
contract is expected within
Q3 2014.
18
Significant orders from wind industry
customers in Finland and Estonia
For a few years now, Moven- scheduled for this spring and ages threatening the turbines
tas has actively developed its summer, include factory ser- were detected with Moventas’
after sales services in order to vice, project management, CMaS condition management
overcome the challenges with installations, spare parts, new system.
WindWind turbines, to sup- main bearings and in some CMaS also detected emerg-
port the end-users in Finland. cases also the related crane ing damages on the WWD3
Moventas has entered an services. Estonian Nelja Ener- turbines Moventas serviced last
agreement on service projects gia owns three wind farms and year on the Swedish Uljabouda
of WinWind 3 MW turbines 19 WWD3 turbines across the mountains and on lake Vän-
with three different custom- country. The WWD3 projects ern. CMaS manages a wind
ers in Finland and Estonia. now agreed with Moventas turbine drivetrain with seven
The customers include Hami- will be carried out in three tur- parametres by measuring tem-
nan Energia and the Estonian bines in the Aseriaru and Viru perature, vibration, load, pres-
Nelja Energia. The deliveries, Nigula wind farms. The dam- sure, rounds per minute, oil
DNV GL works to develop the electricity
storage value chain
The DNV GL global team GL is working with utilities second by second system
has been actively partici- and independent system op- operation simulation and
pating in projects that cut erators to address the new which assess system’s ability
across the electricity stor- grid challenges that come to achieve adequate balanc-
age value chain – ranging with integrating intermittent ing and maintain system fre-
from technology develop- and distributed generation quency, or PLATOS, that can
ment and evaluation to the resources into the current assist network planners to
advancement of visionary electric power system and determine the optimal size,
large scale storage appli- has developed renewable type and location of storage
cations. As penetration of integration tools such as systems to be implemented
renewables increases, DNV KERMIT, which provides a in their electrical network.
Altaaqa Global wins ‘Power Project of the
Year’ at Middle East Electricity Awards
Altaaqa Global CAT Rental
Power has recently received the
award for ‘Power Project of the
Year’ for its power plant project
in Aden, Yemen. Altaaqa Global
was highly commended for its
contribution to product inno-
vation, social responsibility and
impressive delivery during the
Middle East Electricity Awards
2014, held at the Dubai Inter-
national Convention Centre in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
PROINSO delivered 145kW
for two self-consumption
solar PV projects in
Namibia and South Africa
The two installations will sup-
ply electricity to an important
iron ore mine in South Africa
and the premises of the Na-
mibian Development Corpo-
ration. They turn PROINSO
into a reference of self-con-
sumption installations, a type
of installation that is enjoying
increasing success interna-
tionally, as it optimises energy
efficiency, reduces electric-
ity bills and leakage from the
grid and helps protect the en-
vironment. Specifically, to the
Assmang Khumani mine, in
Gptech’s activity at the South African
pv solar market
Since last year, GPTech have
looked at South African PV
solar market as one of its larg-
est interest. The partnership
with CBI-Electric, a leading
technology company belong-
ing to the JSE-listed Reunert,
has been the first step to fulfil
with the
policies
demand-
ed by the
Govern-
ment in
the Inte-
grated
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
the Northern Cape province
of South Africa, PROINSO
supplied 100kW of modules
and SMA inverters. The self-
consumption installation will
supply electricity to this im-
portant iron ore mine with
a production of 10 million
tonnes for export. The other
project PROINSO supplied is
a 45kW self-consumption
installation that will supply
electricity to the premises of
the Namibian Development
Corporation (NDC) in the city
of Windhoek.
Resource Plan. As a result of
this agreement, GPTech is pro-
viding nowadays its PV630WD
inverters solutions for a PV
plant with more than 37 MW
of installed capacity. This PV
facility has been selected in
the first round of the IPP Pro-
curement Program and will be
operating in short time. Ad-
ditionally, GPTech expects to
start the active manufacture
and sale of its PV inverters,
APIS and solutions for hybrid
generation plants at the end
of 2014.
19
LATEST GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS
The world’s first vegetable
oil transformer in the 420
kV capacity range
The first impressively environ-
mentally friendly transformer in
the 420 kV capacity range from
Siemens has been commissioned
by the Baden-Wuerttemberg
power grid operator TransnetBW.
The world’s first power trans-
former insulated and cooled us-
ing vegetable oil links the 380 kV
extra-high voltage level with the
110 kV grid of the subordinate
distribution grid operator in the
Bruchsal substation. This ensures
that the power transported via
the extra-high voltage lines to
Bruchsal is fed into the 110 kV
grids of the distribution system
operator and that this power ar-
rives safely and reliably at house-
holds and industry throughout
the region.
The special feature of this
transformer is the material that
it is filled with. For this marks
the first time that vegetable oil is
used with this voltage category
instead of mineral oil for insula-
tion and cooling. This vegetable
oil is not only more environmen-
tally friendly, but is also much less
flammable than mineral oil. The
insulating oil for this new trans-
former is produced solely from
renewable, plant resources and is
completely bio-degradable. The
new power transformer for the
Bruchsal-Kändelweg substation
is the world’s first transformer
20
at the 420 kV extra-high voltage
level for which no water hazard
classification must be issued. As
a result, this transformer can be
installed and operated in water
conservation areas or in zones
subject to stringent environmen-
tal protection restrictions.
“The properties of this veg-
etable oil are not only beneficial
to the environment, but also
offer the customer cost advan-
tages over transformers cooled
with conventional mineral oil”,
explained Beatrix Natter, CEO of
the Transformers business unit
at Siemens Energy. “The bio-
degradability of the insulating oil
means that additional collecting
vessels and separation systems
are no longer required at the
installation location, resulting in
cost savings for these items.”
Other important aspects are the
substantially higher flashpoint
and combustion point of the
vegetable oil as compared to
that of the mineral oil used up
to now. The lower flammability
of this insulating oil also provides
the transformer with a higher
fire protection classification. This
means that the fire protection
system can be optimized accord-
ingly and that the transformer
can also be operated favorably
in densely populated residential
areas.
Joint wind fair concept
for an innovative industry
The trade fair companies in
Hamburg and Husum have
signed the agreement for
cooperation as organisers
of WindEnergy Hamburg
and HUSUM Wind. “That
is the formal document
setting out what we have
been preparing in paral-
lel for many months – the
joint industry solution for
the arrangement of the
wind industry exhibitions”
said the two CEOs, Bernd
Aufderheide of Hamburg
Messe und Congress (HMC)
and Peter Becker of Messe
Husum und Congress, at
the formal signing of the
agreement in Hamburg.
Agreement in principle had
already been achieved at
the end of April 2013. Since
then, the concepts for the
two exhibitions have been
defined in more detail,
and at the same time their
implementation in practice
had been moved forward.
WindEnergy Hamburg, the
leading international fair for
the wind industry, will be
held from 23 to 26 Septem-
ber 2014 for the first time,
in Germany’s second larg-
est city. More than 1,000
exhibitors from all parts of
energetica
the world are expected for
this premiere, presenting
their innovations on some
65,000 square metres of
exhibition space. HUSUM
Wind will be held from 15
to 18 September 2015; it is
the central industry fair for
the German language wind
market, with a wide range
of participants and specific
requirements. This fair is
likewise attracting a great
deal of interest in the indus-
try. WindEnergy Hamburg
is to be held at two-yearly
intervals, giving companies
in the global onshore and
offshore wind industries a
leading platform for innova-
tion and dialogue. It reflects
the whole of the value chain
at international level, and is
an expert forum for current
and emerging key markets.
HUSUM Wind in the fol-
lowing year will establish
a strong connection with
practical operations in the
German language wind en-
ergy market. Thanks to its
traditional and unique at-
mosphere, Husum is a rep-
resentative showcase not
only for international manu-
facturers, but also for inno-
vative mid-sized companies.
INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
Cummins Power Generation signed a distributor agreement
with Energy Solutions for Gas Business in Pakistan
Cummins Energy Solutions Cummins was looking for in a has become the trusted source s Paralleling, synchronizing
Business (ESB) has signed En- local partner. of complete gas-powered and load-sharing solu-
ergy Solutions as its gas gener- ESL already manage over packages using original Cum- tions of new and legacy
ating set distributor and service 1,000 maintenance contracts mins engines manufactured systems
provider for Pakistan. Head- across Pakistan. Their existing in the UK. The value package s Operation & Maintenance
quartered in Karachi, ESL is pri- experience with the Cummins provided by ESL to its custom- (O&M) solutions for all sec-
marily a service company that range, established network ers includes: tors, from parts supply to
helps customers select, install, across Pakistan and demon- s Turnkey energy solutions full owning and operating
operate and maintain gas- strated ability to satisfy cus- including Independent contracts over 10 years
powered generation equip- tomers’ requirements were Power Providers (IPPs), co- s Service availability across
ment. ESL has proven it can ex- critical factors for selecting ESL generation, trigeneration Pakistan with strategic of-
ceed customers’ expectations, as distributor for the Cummins and waste-to-energy proj- fices placed in the heart of
which was a key differentiator gas business in Pakistan. ESL ects the markets they serve

Socomec is part of the Nice Grid project

Socomec is part of a consor-
tium involved in a project to
develop extensive PV electri-
cal production as part of a
large European project man-
aged by the Grid4EU associa-
tion.
The innovative French-
based project - baptized the
‘Nice Grid’ - is part of the
European energy transition
initiative that aims by 2020
to be producing more than
20% of electrical energy via
renewable energy sources.
Socomec is extending its
product offering for pub-
lic distribution (TIPI switch-
boards, DIRIS A measur-
ing devices, auxiliary units,
SIRCO switch disconnectors,
etc.) with its new range of
energy storage devices, the
SUNSYS PCS2. With its out-
put of 33 to 100 kW, the
SUNSYS PCS2 is ideal for low
voltage networks. The en-
ergy storage converters have
a double function: energy
conversion and storage. In-
stalled close to the PV power
system, they first convert the
PV energy available during
the day and store it in cyclic
batteries. On demand, the
stored energy can then be
converted back into useable
AC current and injected into
the grid.These ‘bi-direction-
al’ storage converters also
offer a feature whereby they
can be programmed to oper-
ate according to a charging
and discharging profile set in
advance by the energy util-
ity. The innovation comprises
the control of the low volt-
age network that is subject
to the constant fluctuations
in PV energy production, re-
sulting in voltage variations.
This control is assured by the
energy storage converters
via the use of specific control
algorithms. The converters
are managed at district level
via power management sys-
tems in order to constantly
optimize the electrical sup-
ply.

Integrated Electrical and Instrumentation solutions deliver

design man-hour savings
GHD has achieved considerable
cost savings by integrating AVE-
VA Electrical with AVEVA Instru-
mentation. Impressed with both
its performance and the tech-
nical support available, GHD’s
team in Brisbane, Australia has
been using AVEVA Instrumenta-
tion successfully since 2011. Its
productivity encouraged GHD to
also implement AVEVA Electrical
in the summer of 2013. “Us-
ing the combination of AVEVA
Electrical and AVEVA Instru-
mentation enables us to create
high-quality electrical and instru-
mentation design on one da-
tabase,” said Rob Trout, Senior
Process Control/Instrumentation
Engineer, GHD. “The design cost
savings alone are considerable.
The database-driven approach
has also eliminated duplication
and opportunities for human
errors, creating further savings
from the reduction in rework.”
“The electrical and instrumenta-
tion engineering and design dis-
ciplines share similarities as well
as data, information and intel-
ligence. Many physical compo-
nents require both electrical and
instrumentation/control cable
designs, for example. Keeping
these two disciplines separate
is expensive,” said Hanno Tam,
Vice President SE & Australasia,
AVEVA. “Time costs money and
duplication of data invites error.
AVEVA Electrical and AVEVA In-
strumentation share the same
database, with changes in one
automatically being replicated
in the other and their impact in-
stantly highlighted for attention.
No other software vendor can
provide the capability to oper-
ate such applications directly on
a single database. For customers
like GHD this is critical to operat-
ing efficiently while ensuring the
integrity of the design.”

energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14 21

LATEST GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS
Enertis Solar to provide clients
with quality control services for PV
modules in South Africa
Enertis Solar Group an inde-
pendent firm specialized in
consulting, technical services
and engineering within the So-
lar Photovoltaic Energy Sector
signed last August an agree-
ment with the Nelson Man-
dela Metropolitan University
(NMMU) in South Africa for
the testing of solar photovolta-
ic modules. Enertis has experi-
ence and technical know-how
accumulated while providing
testing, engineering and ad-
visory services to PV projects
totaling over 3,500 MW world-
wide. The NMMU has expertise
accumulated over years of re-
Grupel to showcase at
Hannover Fair
The Portuguese Grupel, a
genset company partici-
pates in Hannover Fair 2014
(Hall 027 Stand N73) that
takes place in the German
city between April 7 and
11. Recently the company
has developed and imple-
mented a project of a six
2300 kVA and a six 1100
kVA generators central,
up to 1500 rpm, 50 Hz and
400V or 24000 V, to sup-
port the Paraguay grid. The
generators provide an out-
22
search on PV modules and re-
lated components, and has fa-
cilities for testing at its campus
in Port Elizabeth. This agree-
ment will enable Enertis Solar
to provide clients with quality
control services for PV modules
according to IEC standards,
leading to the identification
of performance issues in the
most crucial components of a
PV plant. Together with other
services such as commissioning
and construction supervision,
which are already part of its
expertise, Enertis Solar guaran-
tees the client the execution of
a high quality PV Plant.
put voltage in 400 V Low
Voltage, or a 24000 V in
Medium Voltage, upon op-
erator selection. Each gen-
erator performs the parallel
to the electrical power sup-
ply up to 24000 V individu-
ally and also parallel with
the remaining generators
.The central also incorpo-
rates fuel tanks. The project
used Mitsubishi Engines,
Marelli Alternators, Efacec
Converters and Deep Sea
Controllers.
New Simulation Program
GeoT*SOL basic 2.0
facilitates the planning
and design of heat pumps
With the new software
GeoT*SOL basic 2.0, the
Berlin-based software com-
pany Valentin has extended
the field of application for
their design program for
heat pump systems. In ad-
dition to air and geothermal
probes, which extract heat
by drilling up to 100 meters
deep, the new program now
also makes it possible to de-
sign pump systems that use
groundwater or geothermal
collectors laid horizontally
in the ground as the heat
source. For the design, the
user can choose between
five pre-defined system con-
figurations that have proven
themselves in practice. In
addition, there is the oppor-
tunity to design and dimen-
sion individual components,
including heat pumps, heat
sources and storage tanks, as
well as solar collectors that
provide heat for the stor-
age tanks. After determining
the heating and domestic
hot water requirements, the
software provides all the re-
sults in graphical form, in-
cluding the annual courses
energetica
of the relevant tempera-
tures, the useful heat and
electric power, as well as the
coefficient of performance.
The program also calculates
the annual energy yields and
makes statements about the
economic efficiency and the
pollution reduction over con-
ventional systems. Like the
previous version, GeoT*SOL
basic 2.0 also determines the
annual coefficient of perfor-
mance on the basis of min-
ute values. This number indi-
cates the quotients from the
heat supplied and the power
consumption. In addition
to the simulation result, the
software calculates the an-
nual coefficient according to
VDI guideline 4650, which is
required by the Federal Of-
fice of Economics and Export
Control (BAFA) for the ap-
proval of grant applications
in Germany. For the simula-
tions, the software includes
a database of 1,600 heat
pumps from leading manu-
facturers as well as inter-
national climate data sets.
GeoT*SOL basic 2.0 is avail-
able in English and German.
INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

HIMOINSA
HIMOINSA provides hybrid power generation systems
that can reduce diesel consumption by 30%
On top of HIMOINSA’s know-how in diesel and gas generation, the company also boasts
expertise in the design and start-up of power generation plants including hybrid projects, mainly
for supplies that require a power range from 0.3 to 5MW, where hybrid systems are very appealing
from a financial standpoint.
H
ybrid power generation systems
leverage the benefits and elimi-
nate the disadvantages of the
various types of diesel and photovoltaic
power generation. In such systems fuel
consumption is lower and operational cost
is less affected by the fluctuations that ari-
se from fuel price volatility. Furthermore,
CO2 emissions are also reduced and noise
pollution decreases. Moreover, in the case
of an oil-exporting country, there is also
the gain made from exporting the uncon-
sumed diesel.
HIMOINSA provides the expertise to de-
sign and start up hybrid generation plants
at a time when the cost of photovoltaic
elements is falling and the need to reduce
air pollution in order to comply with legal
requirements in some territories must be
taken into account.
According to Massimo Brotto, New Busi-
ness Development Manager at HIMOINSA:
“These projects involve the incorporation
into diesel generation plants of photovolta-
ic equipment capable of providing around
30% of nominal output, which can vary
according to the project, geographical lo-
cation and the cost of fuel.” HIMOINSA’s
hybrid projects combine the two technolo-
gies via a control system that can manage
the supply, completely guaranteeing the re-
turn. The quality of the system is measured
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
by its capacity to reduce the operating costs
of the diesel plant and to exploit natural re-
sources using solar equipment.
The installation of three HIMOINSA HTW
2030 T5 generators, each with 1,617 kW
of power, provides a total output of 4.85
MW. In geographic areas such as Chile,
with annual solar radiation of 2,312 kWh/
m2, the customer can reduce diesel con-
sumption by over 33%. “These figures
show that the hybridisation of diesel gen-
erator sets is profitable because the rev-
enue generated exceeds the initial invest-
ment and the additional costs,” explains
Brotto, adding that the investment costs
would be proportionally smaller as the
installed capacity increases. This means
that projects carried out in zones with
high solar radiation such as Peru, India,
the Caribbean, Australia and Africa will
guarantee a high return on investment.
HIMOINSA’s Power Solution Engineering
team, which works on this type of special
project, warns that hybridisation process-
es are mainly appropriate for mining and
agricultural sectors and remote hotel and
industrial complexes that do not have a
conventional electricity supply.
Hybrid power systems were the theme of
HIMOINSA’s presentation at Genset Meet-
ing, the number one professional genset-
related gathering, held on 11 February in
ON COVER
Madrid. Attendees listened with interest
to the address by Massimo Brotto, during
which he explained the economic and en-
vironmental advantages of hybrid power
generation projects.
Business models for hybridisation
EPC (Engineering , Procurement and Construction)
The customer makes the investment in
the renewable facility while HIMOINSA
is responsible for all the engineering, the
supply of materials, building and con-
necting the facility and operation and
maintenance. This business model pro-
vides an attractive return on investment
for the customer. The payback period is
typically 7 to 10 years after the start-up
of the plant, depending on the available
solar resources and market prices for pho-
tovoltaic energy.
PPA (Power Purchase Agreement )
HIMOINSA makes the investment in the
renewable facility and sells the energy
generated to the customer at a lower price
than the customer is currently paying for
5 to 8 years, depending on the available
solar resources, the market price of the
components and the real cost of energy
for the customer. This option allows the
customer to generate an energy saving
without making an investment 
23
 EWEA

What’s next for the wind industry?

Between 10 and 13 march Barcelona will host the EWEA Annual Event. During these days the
international wind industry will meet and analyze the future of their business in Europe and
worldwide.

E
WEA is the leading organization for
the wind industry with over 700
members from almost 60 countries.
Their Annual Event is used by the industry
to showcase and demonstrate its latest pro-
ducts and services. Around 10.000 visitors
are expected to attend the extensive exhibi-
tion and the broad conference programme.
EWEA 2014,is particularly important be-
cause it is held just before the European
Council in march, where EU Heads of
State and Government will discuss climate
and energy targets for 2030.
The executive director of the Internation-
al Energy Agency, Maria van der Hoeven
, stated recently “ Europe risks losing its
top spot in renewable energy if it does not
invest sufficiently in grid and market inte- industry will also be discussed during the which it was regulated for the first time
gration.” congress. On Monday 10 March at 12:30 in the Electrical Sector Law. On December
Van der Hoeven will speak in more detail Spanish and European political and indus- 31st total accumulated power in the sec-
on this issue at the inaugural event, which try experts will hold a press conference on tor stood at 22,959 MW according to data
will focus on how the wind energy compa- “Over and out? What’s next for the Span- compiled by the Spanish Wind Energy As-
nies can get your business recovers. ish wind energy industry.” How should the sociation (AEE).
For the Portuguese energy minister, who Spanish Wind Industry and the entire re- Therefore CEOs of leading industry com-
will also give a keynote speech, an essen- newable energy industry in Spain face the panies such as Alstom Wind, Gamesa,
tial condition for boosting business and recent Energy Reform. Acciona Energy, ERG Renew, Enel Green
green growth is an ambitious and binding The Spanish Government policies hit the Power, EDP Renováveis and Iberdrola will
2030 renewables target. wind sector very hard. In 2013 Spain in- discuss what they are already doing to get
As this year the event takes place in stalled only 175 MW, up 0.77% on a year- back to business in a panel debate.
Spain still one of the biggest wind energy by-year basis. This is the lowest growth Energetica XXI presents some of the
markets, the situation of the Spanish wind rate in the sector since 1997, the year in leading companies 

24 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MARCH14

 EWEA

Alstom Barlovento Recursos Naturales

Hall 6 Stand D10 Hall 7 Stand C120
In onshore wind technologies, Alstom will present its upgraded Since 1998, Barlovento has worked in the technical advice for
ECO 100 platform. With rotor diameters of 100, 110 and 122 me- more than 17000 wind MW and 700 solar already built, in
ters, Alstom’s robust ECO 100 Platform offer a high yield and out- the management of more than 1700 measurement stations all
standing efficiency across all wind classes. This offering optimises around the world, tests in more than 100 wind turbine models,
each project’s capacity factor by up to 20% whilst reducing its design of more than 100 wind farms and grid integration studies.
Balance of Plant With active presence in 7 countries (Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru,
costs by 15%. Bolivia, Romania and Spain) and expertise in projects in more
In offshore, the than 40 countries all around the world, we are able to always be
focus will be in close to your project. Barlovento policy’s guidelines are indepen-
the 6-MW Hali- dence, proximity to the client and quality.
ade™ 150, the
first new-gen- Bachmann electronic
eration offshore Hall 6 Stand C10
wind turbine. The GM260 from Bachmann is a grid measuring module that can
Thanks to its be directly integrated in all M1 controller systems. The GM260
150-metre rotor, supplies current and voltage measured values, frequency as well
is more efficient as power and power factor for up to two 3-phase branches (high-
since its yield resolution in TrueRMS process), and offers 4-quadrant energy
is 15% better metering for each of the two three-phase systems.
than existing offshore turbines. It operates without a gearbox The direct integration in the M1 automation system simplifies and
(using direct drive). Thanks to a permanent-magnet generator, speeds up the engineering, enabling comprehensive remote diag-
there are less mechanical parts inside, making it more reliable and nostics and teleservice. The fast sampling rate in each period also
helping to reduce operating and maintenance costs. enables use for operational measurement, closed-loop control as

CD-ADAPCO
As governments face the daunting dual
challenge of maintaining access to se-
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energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MARCH14 25

 EWEA

well as for condition
monitoring. The fast
memory media and
the wide range of
communication inter-
faces of the M1 pro-
vide useful support
especially for overall
energy monitor-
ing applications: Additional meters for gas or process heat can be
supplemented via M-Bus or Modbus, external electricity meters via
IEC61850 or IEC60870. A wide range of fieldbus or telecontrol pro-
tocols, OPC DA/UA as well as e-mail and FTP are provided for routing
the collected energy data. The measuring intervals on several devices
can be time synchronized via SNTP or the IEEE 1588 Precision Time
Protocol in order to evaluate consumption values consistently. Con-
figuration and commissioning diagnostics are implemented in the
SolutionCenter engineering tool through intuitive graphical inter-
faces, and offer access control with password protection in order to
prevent manipulation. Its extraordinarily compact design makes the
GM260 module in conjunction with the synergy effects of direct in-
tegration an attractive solution, even for cost-sensitive applications.
Ereda
Hall 6 Stand B45
Ereda presents at EWEA’s Annual Conference, EWEC 2014 a web
tool for data processing to open the access to its clients. The web
version requires no physical installation or access elements. Ere-
data includes a meteorological module with features to import,
handle and analyze data to obtain different kind of statistics. The
second Eredata module is for operational data of wind farms and
allows the import, handling and analysis of SCADA and other
data to achieve results as real wind turbine power curves, power
regulation etc.
GES
Hall 6 Stand D20
GES (Global Energy Services) will take part in EWEA 2014, the
most important European Wind Event for the first half of the
year, that will take place in Barcelona from 10th to 13th March.
This time GES will have an active role, besides participating in
the Exhibition. Thorsten Kramer (CEO) and Jose Luis Sevillano
(Business Development & Marketing) will chair the “On- and Off-
shore installation technologies” session, which will take place on
Wednesday 12th at 11.15 am.
Kintech Engineering
Hall 6 Stand F42
Kintech Engineering designs and manufactures first class wind
measurement equipment. At our booth at the EWEA exhibition
in Barcelona and visitors get a complete demo of the EOL Ze-
nith wind data logger and EOL Manager. With EOL Manager
they can download data, collect real-time values, refine logger
settings remotely and keep all their wind data organized. EOL

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26 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MARCH14

 EWEA

Manager automatically downloads all their wind data from an High availability, network security, monitoring and high reliability
unlimited number of wind assessment masts. All from a single are all key features of mCon switches. Thanks to the integration
intuitive dashboard. The EOL Zenith data logger offers a wide of the PROFINET I/O device stack, the switches can be deployed
range of possibilities and ensures reliable and accurate measure- and incorporated seamlessly into existing and newly planned
ment. Our customers include utilities, developers, professional PROFINET applications.
wind consultants, research institutes and wind turbines manu- In addition to RSTP, the new switches also mean that the Media
facturers.” Redundancy Protocol (MRP) is available to create redundant to-
pologies. Reduced cycle times and faster processes necessitate
HARTING Technology Group the synchronization of participants in plants. The Precision Time
Hall 7 Stand E72 Protocol (PTP Version 2, IEEE 1588) provides the highest possibly
The high demands on reliability and safety in industrial settings accuracy and is supported by the new mCon 3000 switches
mean that manageable Ethernet switches need to become more
and more effi- Norvento Enerxía
cient. Optimized Hall 6 Stand E40
and developed Norvento Enerxía has been active in the energy sector since 1981.
for use in harsh It is organized into five areas: nED, where our nED100 wind tur-
industrial envi- bine is conceived; Renewable
ronments, the Energies, which integrates
new managed the operations to promote,
Ha-VIS mCon develop and operate renew-
3000 Ethernet able energy installations; En-
switches enable gineering, O&M and Energy
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of complex and Our 100 kW wind turbine in-
efficient network corporates the advances that
structures. have occurred in wind power

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28 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MARCH14

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technology: direct-drive multipole synchronous generator, oil-free climate.

concept, variable pitch and speed, triple braking system and IGBT
Full Power Converter to name a few. The certification process tak-
ing place will make nED100 the first wind turbine of its size with
certification IEC 61400-22.
Renewable NRG Systems
Hall 7 Stand C80
From pre-construction resource assessment to operational moni-
toring and forecasting, Renewable NRG Systems’ wind and solar
measurement products deliver the data you need to successfully
plan your utility-scale project.
The products featured during EWEA 2014 are:
-TurbinePhD™ Condition Monitor-
ing System
A vibration-based health monitoring
system, TurbinePhD provides
complete diagnostic coverage of a
wind turbine’s drivetrain.
-WindSensor P2546-OPR Ane-
mometer
The P2546-OPR class one anemom-
eter features improved off-axis re-
sponse characteristics and a molded
one-piece rotor for durability in any
Visit the booth for a preview of Renewable NRG Systems’ re-
source assessment and turbine optimization product lines—sen-
sors, loggers, towers, Lidar systems, and more.
S&C Electric Europe
Hall 7Stand F95
Smart grid solutions of-
fer the best, most realistic
path to address the renew-
able integration challenge.
To manage the impact of
renewable energy sources,
such as wind, concentrated
solar, and tidal power gen-
eration, reactive compensa-
tion solutions that provide
rapid response, such as
dynamic static compensa-
tors (DSTATCOMs) are the
most effective at mitigat-
ing some of the impact of fluctuating renewable energy output
on power systems. With qualities such as ultra-fast response, in-
creased capacity, higher reliability, DSTATCOMs allow renewable
energy sources to meet utility interconnection requirements, as
well as the power factor, voltage output, and low-voltage ride-
through requirements of various worldwide grid codes.

energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MARCH14 29

 EWEA

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Schaeffler Technologies
Hall 6 Stand C50
Schaeffler has introduced a new Wind Power Standard (WPOS) for
its INA and FAG brand bearings for wind power applications, which
fulfills the increasing demands in terms of reliability placed on wind
turbines and components in the wind power sector. This new stan-
dard for products and processes means
Schaeffler is offering the same high stan-
dards of quality as it is already successfully
offering in the automotive and aerospace
industries. “The Schaeffler Wind Power
Standard is a comprehensive concept de-
veloped by the company, which further in-
creases the reliability of rolling bearings in
wind turbines. This new quality standard
includes all products and processes that are relevant to the wind pow-
er sector,” says Rudolf Walter, Director of Business Development and
Key Account Management at Schaeffler’s Wind Power Business Unit.
Relevant products will be labeled with the WPOS designation. Internal
audits monitor compliance with strict quality specifications that apply
to all development and design teams as well as for all manufacturing
locations worldwide.
Top Cable
Hall 7 Stand E102
Top Cable’s portfolio of cables for windmill applications includes the
full range of medium voltage, low voltage and control cables, in both
copper and aluminum. All cables have been specifically designed to
fulfill the requirements for the various stages in construction and op-
eration of the wind turbine. Our “loop” cables have been tested to
withstand the torsion produced by the movement of the nacelle in
relation to wind direction. Top Cable’s silicone cables withstand the
heat generated in some nacelles. Our cables are ozone and oil resis-
tant, with a high degree of flexibility owing to the class 5 conductor
and cable construction. In conclusion Top Cable offers the complete
solution of cables required for wind turbines with all cables being
design and tested according to the highest international standards.
TÜV Rheinland
Hall 7 Stand F83
TÜV Rheinland will be presenting their range of services related
to wind energy. The company will combine its extensive range of
services for the energy sector under the E3 campaign umbrella
– “Energy Expertise Everywhere”. A dedicated internet platform
shows the wide portfolio of services offered by TÜV Rheinland
using international reference cases organized according to differ-
ent energy sectors. New additions to TÜV Rheinland´s portfolio
include services for determining among others wind potential
and energy yields, for determining turbulence intensity character-
istics and for calculating shadow flicker emissions and noise emis-
sion prognoses. The company has recently received accreditation
for testing in accordance with international standard EN ISO/IEC
17025:2005. With its range, the testing service provider has es-
tablished itself as a reliable partner in the wind energy market for
operators, owners, investors, project developers and manufactur-
ers of wind energy plants and wind farms.

30 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MARCH14


VESTAS
Adding long-term value through wind
power plant predictive maintenance
Among the tools that have paved the way to predictive maintenance approach are Vestas
Condition Monitoring System and Vestas Turbine Monitoring respectively. Both contribute to
identifying potential technical problems before they occur, and providing inputs or warnings to
identify turbines that behave differently compared to other turbines.
B
ack in July 1991, when wind
power was not even close to what
it is now, one Vestas V25-200 kW
was installed in a small coastal town in
France. It was the first wind turbine ever
connected to the grid in that country.
Turbines then looked quite different from
what we see today. With three 12-metre
blades supported by a lattice tower, they
looked more like a small Tour Eiffel. But
these small turbines sparked an industry
that has grown extraordinarily ever since.
Throughout the years, the evolution of
wind energy technology has been accom-
panied by an increased focus on business
processes and improving the level of ser-
vice through process standardisation, the
implementation of industry best practices,
and last but certainly not least, shifting
from corrective to predictive maintenance.
Among the tools that have paved the
way to predictive maintenance approach
are Vestas Condition Monitoring System
and Vestas Turbine Monitoring respective-
ly. Both contribute to identifying potential
technical problems before they occur, and
providing inputs or warnings to identify
turbines that behave differently compared
to other turbines.
This way, the service team, prior to effi-
ciently planning maintenance, can actually
retrieve information about possible break-
downs of components in advance. This
contributes to a two-fold effective action
as it allows the service team to reach the
turbine with a clear idea of the possible
issue and with the tools and spare parts
needed for different repairs that could be
required, while securing the highest avail-
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
ability of the turbine – in the mutual inter-
est of the customer and supplier.
Not only is the effect on productivity
optimized, as service operations can be
scheduled during periods of low wind, but
also maintenance costs can be reduced by
Nine months before
breakdown
The Vestas Condition Monitoring System
is able to detect problems on drive train
components up to nine months before
breakdown - it uses a variety of sensors and
analyses signals using highly-evolved soft-
ware together with experts from the wind
turbine industry.
Vestas Turbine Monitoring is a tool devel-
oped by Vestas Performance & Diagnostic
Centre to provide turbine diagnosis and
detect potential failures in the turbine. The
system allows better understanding of tur-
bine performance and deeper analysis of
fault conditions.
WIND ENERGY
being able to order new components and
essential equipment well in advance.
Planning and continuously improving op-
erations and maintenance lay its founda-
tion on operational data, for which Vestas
was the first to build a performance and
diagnostics centre.
Currently the Vestas Performance and
Diagnostic Centre (VPDC) monitors more
than 46,000 MW of wind power plants
globally. The VPDC receives data every
10 minutes, 24 hours per day, 7 days per
week from 130-500 sensors in each wind
turbine, resulting in the world’s largest set
of wind turbine operations data.
The turbine sensor data is part of con-
dition monitoring, the assessment of the
“health” of a machine through the analy-
sis of measured signals; typically tempera-
tures, vibrations, or lubrication oil quality.
Trending analysis of performance against
other turbines in our global fleet allows for
early turbine performance investigation.
The design of predictive models to detect
problems and signals from the wind tur-
bines are subsequently analysed and con-
ditions are classified according to severity.
The severity classification is used to alert
service technicians and prevent perfor-
mance deviations and turbine downtime.
The large data set gathered through the
VPDC is not only used for predictive and
preventive maintenance. Vestas uses this
unique knowledge throughout the value
chain to improve turbine design, mirror
real wind power plants’ conditions dur-
ing reliability testing, optimise siting, and
identify critical to quality items in manu-
facturing 
31
WIND ENERGY
LAURENT CARME,
WIND ONSHORE PLATFORM
VICE-PRESIDENT AT ALSTOM
Lowering the cost of onshore wind
The cost of onshore wind energy has fallen considerably in recent years but scope exists for
lowering energy costs still further.
T
he cost of onshore wind energy has
fallen dramatically over the last de-
cade, reaching grid parity in parts of
the world such as Brazil. Even in parts of
northern Europe, such as the UK, the cost
of wind power is in some cases on a par
with coal and gas fired power plants.
However, there is still plenty of scope
to reduce costs even further through im-
provements in turbine technology, installa-
tion and deployment as well as operation
and maintenance.
Alstom is essentially working in two areas
to lower the cost of wind energy: firstly by
improving energy production; and second-
ly, by reducing overall project costs.
Designing for higher energy
production
The production of a wind turbine is di-
rectly related to the swept area covered
by the blades and the size of the genera-
tor.
32
Over the years, Alstom has been lower-
ing the cost of energy by gradually increas-
ing the energy yield and production of its
wind turbines through the evolution of the
machines in its ECO Platform.
Rotor size has been increased to allow
higher production and enable machines to
make better use of available wind resourc-
es for improved capacity factors.
Since the introduction of the 3 MW-class
ECO 100 turbine in 2007, there have been
two evolutions of the unit. The first up-
grade came in 2009 with the ECO 110,
followed by the ECO 122 in 2012. The
three machines now effectively cover all
wind classes. The ECO 100 is a Class I ma-
chine; the ECO 110 covers Class II and part
of Class I; and the ECO 122 covers Class III
and part of Class II wind sites.
The change in swept area can have a big
impact. The ECO 110 has a swept area of
just below 9500 m2. Today the ECO 122
has a swept area of 11 700 m2. Moving
from an ECO 110 to an ECO 122 therefore
significantly increases the capacity factor
of a given wind farm. At a wind speed of
7.5 m/s at a Class III wind site, capacity fac-
tor is improved by more than 17 percent.
For a Class II wind site, the gains are even
greater. An ECO 110 has a capacity factor
of around 42 per cent at 8.5 m/s. Using an
ECO 122 would increase this to about 48
per cent.
Improving wind farm operation
It is debatable, however, how much bigger
rotor sizes can become for onshore tur-
bines. Although it is possible to make larg-
er blades, as has been proven for large off-
shore turbines, current blade lengths are
beginning to approach the limits of what
can be transported by road. Transporting
blades to remote sites, for example, can be
a particular challenge.
The industry is therefore finding ways of
exploiting wind resources even further.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

Implementing control systems such as
Alstom’s WindAccess scada system to
control parameters such as the pitch of
the blades, yaw and turbine speed en-
sures individual machines operate at their
optimum at all times. However, choosing
the most suitable turbines for a location
in an optimised overall wind farm layout
is an area that is also receiving greater at-
tention.
The traditional approach to wind farm
projects is to use a single model of wind
turbine for all locations, which often re-
sults in sub-optimal utilisation of the wind
resource. Alstom’s approach of having a
single wind turbine platform that is able
to exploit a wide range of wind conditions
helps to overcome this challenge.
The ECO 100 Platform allows developers
to select the best rotor for every position.
Alstom has named this combination of
two or even three of these wind turbines
models within the same wind site as the
PowerOf concept. Allowing project devel-
opers to select the best wind turbine rotor
for the specific wind conditions found in
the different positions of the wind farm,
can optimise the capacity factor of the
project by up to 20 per cent.
Using a product platform approach has
the added advantage of the ability to use
common spare parts as well as enabling
standardised operation and maintenance
procedures for the whole site. Conse-
quently, there is no negative impact on the
cost of energy.
The commercial benefits of the PowerOf
3 concept are already being recognised in
some important wind markets. The con-
cept was in fact instrumental in the sign-
ing of a 1.2 GW frame agreement last year
between Alstom and Renova Energia of
Brazil covering several wind sites.
Cutting costs
While increasing energy production is im-
portant, lowering the overall costs of de-
ploying and operating wind turbines will
also be a massive contributor to reducing
the cost of energy.
The Capex of a wind turbine itself repre-
sents 25-30 per cent of the cost an on-
shore wind project over a typical 20-year
operating lifetime. The remaining costs
– transport, installation, commercial and
structural costs related to the balance-of-
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
plant equipment and servicing – make up
the remaining 70-75 per cent.
Here, costs can be cut by improving: in-
stallation performance; the transportabil-
ity of machines; and the cost of operation
maintenance activities.
Notably, service can typically account for
about 30 per cent of the total cost. It is an
area, which Alstom is addressing through
both improved performance of servicing
and turbine design.
One of the biggest issues facing on-
shore turbines is fatigue on the drive train
caused by non-torque loads. In traditional
wind turbines, all of the components – ro-
tor, blades, hub and shaft – are connected
to the gearbox. Here, the gearbox is being
used as a mechanical component to trans-
mit the torque, and as a structural com-
ponent and therefore has to partially ab-
sorb non-torsional loads. In addition to the
torque, the gearbox has to withstand the
bending moments coming from the rotor.
Since a gearbox is designed to withstand
torque but not bending moments, this can
lead to gearbox failures.
A key feature of Alstom’s wind turbines
is the Alstom Pure Torque load deflecting
design, which protects the generator and
reduces gearbox fatigue. The design has
been applied in both its existing onshore
and offshore turbines.
The Alstom Pure Torque design separates
the structural loads from mechanical loads
to ensure that only the turning force from
the rotor – torque – is transferred to the
WIND ENERGY
mechanical systems i.e. the generator.
Bending loads from the blades are trans-
mitted down the tower.
The design has resulted in a much lower
gearbox failure rate on Alstom wind tur-
bines compared to the industry average.
Tower design
Tower design is another key area that can
affect wind energy economics. Taller tow-
ers provide better energy yields but there
is a cost penalty. Steel towers are com-
petitive at tower heights below 100 m
but above this become too expensive. For
taller towers, concrete designs – whether
full concrete or concrete-steel hybrids – are
a better option.
Alstom considers new materials for high
turbine towers and is testing concrete
technology on three prototypes of 100m
in the Tarragona region, Spain.
Another advantage of a concrete design
is that its parts can be produced on site,
thus saving on transport costs. Foundation
costs are also lower than with steel.
Installing turbines at this height will,
however, require new installation meth-
ods, an area that Alstom will also address
with the help of technological partners.
Sustainable wind
Wind turbine manufacturers will continue
to look for other areas in which to reduce
the cost of wind energy. In addition to
specifically targeted technology programs,
ongoing optimisation in areas such as the
supply chain, manufacturing process and
assembly process will also be key in con-
tinuing cost reductions.
Research by the World Energy Council
(WEC) and Bloomberg New Energy Fi-
nance, shows that the levelised cost of
energy from onshore wind has fallen 18
per cent since 2009 due to cheaper con-
struction costs and higher capacity factors.
The cost of onshore wind energy is al-
ready close to grid parity in many countries
and the trend is that costs will continue to
fall.
If wind power is to be a sustainable in-
dustry and participate in the market with-
out support mechanisms, equipment man-
ufacturers and other industry stakeholders
all have to continue to find ways of accel-
erating the progress they have made so far
in lowering the cost of energy 
33
WIND ENERGY
PETER HERBERT MEIER
TÜV SÜD INDUSTRIE SERVICE
Test wind mast in a forest area delivers surprising results
In regions with complex topography such as forests and minor mountain ranges, the actual
wind conditions are difficult to predict. After one year of operation, a test wind mast installed in
a forest in the Northern Bavarian delivered surprisingly positive results. TÜV SÜD’s wind experts
have operated the 140-metre mast since October 2012 to assess the viability of the site and for
research purposes.
I
s a location suitable for a wind-farm
site or not? The answer to this ques-
tion depends on aspects related to
planning law and the various options in
the field of construction technology, but
also – critically – on the project’s profita-
bility. In practice this repeatedly results in
very specific questions, such as whether
the site offers adequate wind conditions
and whether energy yields enable the site
to be operated profitably.
In the lowlands of northern Germany,
which are characterised by simple topo-
graphic features, strong sea winds and re-
gions that are largely free from extended
forests, this is mostly the case. By contrast,
expert opinions on the suitability and the
profitability of future wind sites frequently
diverge in the southern states of Germany
such as Bavaria or Baden-Wuerttemberg,
where investments in wind power have
been stepped up only recently. The reason
for this is that wind speeds there are gen-
erally lower. In addition, greater turbine
heights and larger rotors mean significant-
ly higher costs. The terrain too – frequent-
ly minor mountain ranges with extensive
forests – makes very special demands on
wind farms. Given this, it is often easy to
doubt the viability of a project right from
the start or even question the feasibility
of further developing wind power in this
region.
Complex terrain makes for a
complex situation
However, this generalisation does not do
justice to the complex topographic condi-
tions in the region. This is made evident by
34
the first results delivered by a 140-metre
test wind mast in Upper Palatinate, Ba-
varia, that has been operated by TÜV SÜD
and the local energy initiative Natural En-
ergy Solutions, Erbendorf, since October
2012. The evaluation of the data gained
from the mast’s operation so far has re-
vealed that wind speeds exceed expecta-
tions based on advance simulations and
predictions. In addition, the wind experts
also collected findings of actual wind con-
ditions at the specific site and on forested
sites located on minor mountain ranges in
general (see info box 1 and figures).
As is common practice, initial rough es-
timates of the potential yields, and even
computer-based 3D simulation programs,
also identified possible high-yield wind
sites for this project. However, it must be
kept in mind that depending on the meth-
od used, all calculated data and forecasts
involve major or minor errors. Based on
the local topography, greater than normal
variations in the actual wind conditions
are possible. Depending on the wind di-
rection, extensive forests, hills, valleys and
other landscape features may redirect,
slow down or accelerate wind speed. Giv-
en this, wind speed may theoretically be
either higher or lower than expected from
the models.
Wind measurements to assess
profitability
In view of the above, there are reserva-
tions regarding the use of these instru-
ments for assessing profitability. Instead,
standardised wind measurements using a
test wind mast are indispensable for ob-
taining reliable data that can be used to
calculate the potential yield. This is the
only approach to create bankable wind
reports and compare the investment and
operating costs with the energy yields and
the income generated.
This is also due to another fact explained
by a comparison with the wind sites in
the lowlands in northern Germany, where
there are few natural obstacles so that
wind speeds there are unimpeded and
relatively constant. Given this, the data
measured at one site can easily be used for
inferring the wind conditions at other sites
nearby. Wind speeds at various layers of air
and heights also can be estimated relative-
ly accurately and transferred to other local
sites. In this case, using the performance
of wind turbines (“validation turbines”) al-
ready installed in the vicinity as a basis is a
very good idea. When geographical prox-
imity, similar topographic conditions and
validation turbines of comparable technol-
ogy are ensured, wind measurements do
not further improve the reliability of the
calculations in the majority of cases.
Good conditions in southern
Germany too
However, on complex minor mountain
ranges matters are completely different.
Firstly, wind power has only recently be-
come established in southern Germany
so that few studies (particularly at greater
measurement heights) are available so far.
This is also the reason for the still relatively
small number of wind turbines per square
kilometre. Wind-farm sites in close proxim-
ity to each other are very rare, so that there
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
 WIND ENERGY

The measurement
results in detail
TÜV SÜD’s test wind mast is located in
Hessenreuther Wald, a forest region in the
Bavarian district of Tirschenreuth, where the
local energy initiative, Natural Energy Solu-
tions GmbH & Co.KG, plans the construction
of a wind farm with up to five turbines. The
project partner also uses the data measured
by the test wind mast for ensuring opti-
mum turbine design. A total of seven cup
anemometers and three vanes at heights
between 60 and 140 metres continuously
measured wind speed and wind direction
Figure 1: The wind profile maps wind velocity (x-axis in m/sec) at various heights (y-axis in metres). At a height over a period of one year (Fig. 1). Using
of roughly 100 metres, the measured data (black line) show a visible blip, with wind speeds increasing drasti-
cally from that height. The zone below is marked by high turbulence intensity caused by the trees in the forest. these data, the wind experts mapped the
Turbulence intensity is considerably weaker in the zone above, where the air flow is largely uninfluenced by profile of the winds above the tree tops.
trees and topography.

Wind speeds higher than predicted

Figure 2: The measured data show pronounced variance over the course of the year. Measured wind speeds
were highest in winter, and lower in summer. Given this, performance of long-term measurements over one year
or measurements during the transition between the seasons are important to obtain valid data of the potential
yield.
are often no validation data from nearby
areas. However, even if the criterion of
geographical proximity is fulfilled, the data
obtained can still not be used for inferring
wind conditions at other sites. The complex
topography has too much influence on the
near-ground wind fields. In the main wind
direction, for example, a nearby site may
be located in the lee of a mountain range
while another site in the direct vicinity may
benefit from unobstructed, low-turbulence
winds blowing at high velocity. Provided the
high-wind sites in southern Germany are
identified and given priority in the develop-
ment of wind-farm sites, this region may
play an important role in making energy
transition a success.
Conclusion and outlook
The results of the TÜV SÜD wind measure-
ment show that minor mountain ranges
in Germany also offer high-yield sites. In a
first step, wind maps and simulation mod-
els may be used to identify potential high-
wind sites. However, to gain reliable data
of the actual wind conditions and thus the
potential energy yields, standardised wind
measurements are needed since wind
speed is massively influenced by the to-
pography and the terrain 
At a mean speed of 7.0 m/sec, winds at a
height of 140 m above ground exceeded ex-
pectations based on the models and forecasts.
The peak wind speed measured by the sen-
sors was 30.8 m/sec, with the prevailing wind
directions east and west (Fig. 2). Mean turbu-
lence intensity was 10.4 per cent at a height
of 140 metres and increased dramatically
in lower layers due to the complex surface
features and the trees. At a height of around
100 metres the wind profile includes a visible
blip (Figure 3) – an important design criterion
for the projected wind turbines, which are de-
veloped to harness the wind above the zone
of wind turbulence and must be dimensioned
for the turbulence intensity prevailing on site.
Marked variance over the course
of the year
The measurements also showed major vari-
ance over the course of the year (Fig. 4). This
finding is also of significance for other sites.
Measurements (using methods such as
laser-aided LIDAR systems) that extend only
over a few months for cost reasons will not
supply representative results and may cause
the potential of the site to be significantly
over- or underestimated. The test wind mast
will remain in operation throughout 2014 to
verify the measurements, statistically validate
the results obtained so far and contribute to
research.

energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14 35

WIND ENERGY

IK4-TEKNIKER

The hidden potential of industrial lubrication

Lubrication is one of the most important elements within the field of industrial maintenance, since
it ensures the efficient working of the machines. It is a field with huge potential for lowering costs,
increasing the useful life of machinery and ensuring more efficient production. Nevertheless,
for a number of reasons the correct maintenance of lubrication systems has been relegated to
second place in the vast majority of companies today.

A
couple of facts and figures by way
of example: 92% of factories lack
adequate lubrication procedures
and 74% do not use lubricant analysis as a
monitoring tool.
Lubrication
Right from its conception, lubrication man-
agement has been a key aspect in mainte-
nance, and its importance has grown even
more in light of recent developments in the
field. The progressive increase in the sophis-
tication of the lubricants has turned these
products into extraordinary compounds, ca-
pable of separating components moving un-
der enormous loads, despite being subject
to high speeds, extreme temperatures and
atmospheres with elevated humidity levels.
However, despite the fact that it is univer-
sally known within industry that lubrication
is essential for correct operation, insufficient
attention is paid to this aspect. As a result,
the working conditions of the vast majority of
industrial environments prevent the physical-
chemical properties of modern-day lubricants
from being fully utilised, thus rendering the
benefits they are able to provide minimal.
According to the data obtained by IK4-
TEKNIKER over the last 4 years, 80% of at-
mospheres in which lubricant transfer takes
place are inadequate for that task, and 64%
of new lubricants exceed the recommended
cleaning limits.
Given this situation in the industrial sector,
the challenge consists of find a way to sys-
tematically transform the usual, antiquated
process of lubrication into a modern, im-
proved and innovative system which makes
full use of all the benefits lubricants have
been designed to offer.
Within the typical maintenance budget,
only about 5% is generally earmarked for
lubricants, and just under 0.01% is spent
on auxiliary lubrication material. However,
around 70% of mechanical faults arise due
to lubrication problems, which in turn may
be generated by a number of different rea-
sons, including the use of an inappropriate
lubricant, inadequate storage, contamina-
tion by dust or water, contamination by oth-
er harmful substances or other lubricants,
lack of lubrication procedures, inadequate
transfer material or the lack of predictive and
proactive maintenance.
Higher priority
Earmarking more money for lubrication may
result in considerable improvements, while
at the same time reducing the problems de-
rived from this process.
The change required to ensure adequate
lubrication is expressed as a new concept
and summed up by the acronym LPD, which
stands for Lubrication Programme Develop-
ment. This system aims to maximise the ben-
efits of the lubricants’ properties by imple-
menting the idea of excellence and a series
of best practices within the field of lubrica-
tion.
The LPD system views lubrication as a se-
quence of stages in which people, proce-
dures and auxiliary lubrication material all
intervene in a coordinated manner, with the
focal point being the attainment of the prin-
cipal goal: providing added value to main-
tenance and maximising the return on asset
investment.
The benefits
In order to establish a clear starting point,
at the beginning of the process the lubrica-
tion conditions are determined and, based
on the results, a lubrication engineering
programme is designed aimed at maximis-
ing the reliability and availably of the assets
through adequate lubrication.
In the short term, the benefits of the pro-
gramme are felt in the lubricant warehouses,
in the section in which lubricants are trans-
ferred from vats to smaller containers, in the
integration with the maintenance manage-
ment system and in the useful life of the lu-
bricants themselves.
In the medium term, however, the clearest
indication of the improvement in lubrica-
tion management is an increased return on
investment, since in many cases, the invest-
ment is recouped during the second year,
and from then on generates added profit.
The profitability of the investment is evi-
dent in a reduction of non-scheduled down-
time, a decrease in the amount of lubricant
required, the lengthening of the useful life of
both lubricated components and lubricants
themselves and the better use made of op-
erator hours. Other advantages include a re-
duction in lubricant consumption, a smaller
stock of parts and workpieces, reduced en-
ergy consumption and an increase in the reli-
ability and availably of the machinery.
Raising the awareness of those responsible
for carrying out maintenance helps move lu-
brication towards levels of excellence, while
at the same time bringing about a change
which provides measurable, quantifiable
benefits in a very short space of time 

36 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

 WIND ENERGY

RAINER BUSSMANN
PRODUCT MANAGER AT metal version of the PushPull connector
HARTING TECHNOLOGY GROUP
provides additional mechanical protection.

Flexibility at every rotation Product variants in the wind

industry
Harting Technology Group is implementing innovative connection The Harting PushPull fiber optic family has
standards in wind turbines: Harting PushPull fiber optic (FO) with also been supplemented with additional
product variants. The PushPull Extension
angled polish simplifies the handling of FO connectors in pitch
Cord Adaptor offers a rugged connector
control applications. interface to extend PushPull cables: that
can be glued onto a plate in the blade.

T
he demands on connection tech-
nology for wind energy are high.
FO between the blades and nace-
lle must be pluggable in order to reduce
service and maintenance costs. In addi-
tion, fiber endfcaces with angled physical
contact (APC) technology are employed
in measuring technology applications to
minimize return loss. However, pluggable
connectors with APC were previously only
available in the IP 20 protection class, re-
sulting in the additional use of encapsula-
ted housings.
With the development of a complete wir-
ing solution between the blades and na-
celle in protection class IP 65/67, the need
for further housings is eliminated, which
significantly facilitates handling during as-
sembly and maintenance. Moreover, the
In addition, a Y-cable has been devel-
oped. The duplex cable is divided into two
simplex cables directly behind the connec-
tor by a Y junction, in order to implement
the optical loop in the blade.
Harting PushPull was previously limited to
standard physical contact (PC) optical in-
serts. Thanks to a special assembly method,
single-mode assemblies with angled physical
contact (LC APC) are now available as well.
These impress with extremely low attenua-
tion values (< 0.25 dB) and very low scatter-
ing of attenuation in different cables 
WIND ENERGY
NEM SOLUTIONS
Advanced monitoring technology: Early prediction
of catastrophic failures without the need for additional investments
Failure modeling and early detection is a key issue in the wind energy sector in order to avoid
important costs derived from unexpected maintenance actions and operations, more so in
offshore wind farms.
B
eing able to predict the remaining
useful life of a component can
allow altering the operating con-
ditions of the turbine so that substitution
of that component can be delayed until a
convenient date (for example, coinciding
with scheduled maintenance operations
on nearby turbines). Technologies achie-
ving these goals are of the highest inter-
est to wind turbine manufacturers, wind
farm operators, maintenance companies
and to any other actor involved in the ex-
ploitation of wind energy assets.
To this aim, NEM Solutions has devel-
oped a novel technology for asset health
monitoring that addresses the issue of
prognosis and early diagnosis of poten-
tial operational failures. This Early fail-
ure warning software trademarked as
A.U.R.A analyzes key parameter devia-
tions and detect failure symptoms months
before the SCADA alarm is activated.
“SCADAs generate a lot of data that, if
overseen or misinterpreted, brings no add-
ed value to O&M teams. NEM Solutions
health monitoring technologies allow early
prediction of catastrophic failures without
the need for additional investments. We
turn SCADA data into valuable knowledge
that helps optimize O&M practices while
maximizing production”
A.U.R.As main process consists of mod-
elling the normal behavior of each sub-
system of the wind turbine and then
detecting deviations from these models.
This includes both sudden deviations that
need to be detected as close to real-time
as possible and slow, evolving degrada-
tions that must be taken into account
38
for optimal scheduling of maintenance
operation and remaining useful life esti-
mations.
Experimental results
Different case studies demonstrate how,
by using SCADA data and our expert
technology A.U.R.A, we deliver early de-
tection of failure symptoms and the im-
pact these detections have as they open
the door to an optimized and dynamic
scheduling of your operation and main-
tenance.
In order to illustrate its applicability in
a real scenario, three years of data from
850 KW to 2 MW wind turbines has been
analyzed. During this period of time SCA-
DA data as well as maintenance inter-
ventions historical information has been
considered in order to achieve two main
objectives: to determine which types of
failures are predictable by this technology
and to calculate cost reduction by avoid-
ing catastrophic failures and by convert-
ing unplanned shutdowns on to sched-
uled maintenance before an unplanned
downtime occurs. The challenge was to
use only available data, without doing
any extra HW installations.
A.U.R.A uses the standard ISO IEC
61400-25 classification to organize the
different subsystems of the wind tur-
bines; WROT (Rotor, blades, pitch), WTRM
(gearbox), WGEN (generator), WNAC
(environmental issues), WHDR (Hydraulic
unit), WYAW (Yaw, orientation etc.) and
WTUR (power and performance).
The achieved results prove that most
of the common failures such as bearing
related issues, oil overheating, oil level
related and pressure issues are predict-
able in all subsystems as well as blades
and pitch related problems. In the other
hand, gearbox the bearing related issues
and communication related problems are
harder to detect at an early stage.
A.U.R.A users achieve big savings based
on cost reduction from avoiding un-
planned shutdowns and the energy loss
caused by downtime. Using only already
existing SCADA data positive results are
reached but it is important to highlight
that the more input data used the more
accurate predictions will be made, there-
fore better results will be achieved.
All wind farms have valuable informa-
tion. Combining this already available
information, expert knowledge and the
appropriate tools, big amounts of money
can be saved every year by detecting early
failure symptoms 
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

DR. NORBERT PARTMANN
MANAGER BUSINESS UNITS AT KTR
KUPPLUNGSTECHNIK GMBH
Systems for wind power technology
The technological development of wind power stations has grown rapidly over the past few
decades. The expectations in performance continue to grow: The towers grow heavily, the wind
farms expand in width. According to BWE rotor diameters and heights of hubs have doubled
during the past decade, the rated power of wind power stations have even increased tenfold.
M
any different specialist fields
have to interact to design a
wind power station, the me-
chanical drive train being one of the main
components. KTR has developed multipur-
pose component assemblies to be used
specifically on wind power stations and
consisting of coupling, brake and cooling
system.
Close to the wind: RADEX-N
With the steel lamina coupling RADEX-
N KTR has established a coupling system
that has been designed for torques up to
300,000 Newtonmeter (Nm). The backlash-
free, torsionally stiff and maintenance-free
all-steel coupling with laminas made of
highly stiff spring steel allows to compen-
sate for high displacements with low restor-
ing forces. The GFK spacer of the coupling
mounted between gearbox and generator
side serves for electric insulation.
No trouble with overload
Part of the scope of supply of RADEX-N is a
brake disk integrated on the gearbox side
as well as a sensor disk for speed monitor-
ing. We would furthermore recommend
to use a safety system ensuring an accu-
rate torque limitation even with adverse
conditions and being integrated in the
coupling spacer in a space-saving way. As
soon as the slipping torque set accurately
is reached, the power flow is limited and
the plant is safe from load peaks on the
generator side. In this way the gearbox is
protected from stress which reduces the
servicing requirements considerably.
Braking safely in the wind
Brakes are essential components of a wind
power station’s safety concept. They are
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
used on two pivots: on the rotor, the drive
train and the pod. For both applications KTR
offers high-quality brakes and brake sys-
tems providing for three different options
that are suitable for wind power stations:
the rotor brake, the yaw brake and the Ro-
tor Lock. These brakes or brake systems,
respectively, are built and supplied both in
hydraulic and electromechanical designs.
Rotor brakes
Spreading reliable pitch systems for an-
gle adjustment of blades has superseded
generating the full braking power via me-
chanical brakes. By active rotating of the
blades, the so-called pitching, the machine
produces a natural braking effect so that
the plant runs into a safe operating condi-
tion. Rotor brakes are only used as a sec-
ondary safety element as well as reliable
stop brakes for maintenance operations
here. In an average wind power station
usually two braking calipers with a disk di-
ameter of about one meter and clamping
forces of about 100 kN are sufficient for
that purpose.
Yaw brakes
The permanent swap of ‘Stop and Go’
requests for specifically low-wear com-
ponents with gigantic clamping forces to
protect the wind power station lastingly
WIND ENERGY
from gusts of wind and pulsating load.
Being located in the transition from tower
to pod, the yaw brakes make sure that
the pod keeps its position having been set
downwind. The yaw brakes are designed
as active disk brake calipers and have
clamping forces up to 550 KN.
Rotor Lock
Rotor Lock is a locking system with the
help of which the rotor of a wind power
station is locked after stopping, for ex-
ample for service purposes. It is fixed by
means of solid pins which are brought in
a disk with holes that match and which
was installed specifically for that purpose.
The pins are operated either hydraulical-
ly, electrically or manually by means of a
spindle.
The stronger the wind, the more
intelligent the cooling
Higher, wider, more powerful – that is the
slogan of wind power industry. But along
with the size of the plant the demands on
the thermo management in the pod are
increasing. The heat which is generated
by generators, frequency converters and
gearboxes has to be dissipated systemati-
cally. This can be managed by large cool-
ing units by KTR having a cooling power
of up to 110 kW. All coolers are designed
with electric motors, fans and bypass sys-
tems. The cooling elements are made of
aluminum saving weight, while fan cover
and frames made of solid stainless steel.
For the use in offshore plants all cooling
systems are coated with KTL painting (KTL
= cataphoretic immersion priming) to pro-
tect them from salty and aggressive air. It
ensures for highest resistance to corro-
sion while not affecting the efficiency 
39
WIND ENERGY

EDUARDO VICENTE
G.T.RIVI – LINCOLN SPAIN

How to reduce wearing on gears

while pitching from 0-degree
From the beginning of the wind energy industry, 30 years ago, wind turbine models have grown
up to high energy power per each wind turbine. This power installed per wind turbine leads to the
needing to optimize the maintenance and to increase the reliability; a new technical challenge for
wind turbine designers. A lack of lubrication can bring WTGs to a standstill. The increased cost
of lubricants and maintenance duties, coupled with a higher equipment value, drives the need
for automatic and centralized lubrication systems.

H
arsh conditions such as vibration,
mechanical loads, contamination
and moisture cumulatively result
in a high wear rate for gears and friction
points. Proper Lubrication is absolutely ne-
cessary in order to provide the right pro-
tection.
A poor preventive maintenance in a wind
turbine might lead to continued non-
desired breakdowns and to apply correc-
tive maintenance. Predictive & preventive
maintenance are being optimized in order
to maximize energy generation. For this
reason new multimegawatt WTGs house
autonomous systems that contribute to
decrease the maintenance tasks.
By using Automatic Lubrication Systems,
the lubricant is automatically delivered in
time-controlled and metered quantities to
all connected points in the system, while
the WTG is in operation. Lubrication “in
motion” ensures that the lubricant is op-
timally and evenly distributed within the
bearings.
But it actually does not happen in Pitch
Gears systems, due to here only a 90-de-
gree cog segment is actually used. Auto-
matic Lubrication becomes more difficult
by the fact that for around 90% of the
production time of a wind turbine the
rotor blades remain in what is known as
the 0-degree setting and is adjusted by
only minimal values. Two to three teeth
of the open gear drive are therefore ex-
posed to extremely high loads for 90% of
the time that the turbine is in production.
Excessive wearing on gear tooth flange
Conventional lubrication of this cog seg-
ment can therefore only be achieved if the
rotor blades pass through the complete
90º segment during a maintenance ses-
sion. However, as maintenance normally
cannot be carried out without taking the
turbine offline there are only two options
for lubricating the rotor blade adjustment
gear:
s Lubrication during the natural idle
phases (no wind)
s Compulsory maintenance intervals,
associated with additional loss of pro-
duction
The idea of adapting the lubrication task
to natural idle phases is attractive to wind
farm operators but not at all to design-
ers or maintenance staff. The fact is that
production phases may be extremely long
during extended periods of windy condi-
tions. These periods tend to be longer for
offshore plants than for onshore installa-
tions. In such cases there is a possibility
that the lubricating film will degenerate
and fail before the end of the natural wind
production phase, thus causing damage
to the gear drive.
For gear drive lubrication there are es-
sentially two acceptable methods that
can be applied to wind turbines:
s Spray lubrication with compressed air,
which due to lack of pneumatics in
WTGs makes it unfeasible.
s Mechanical pinion gear lubrication,
which is the most used.
Regardless of the lubrication method
that be used, it is important that the
proper type of lubricant be applied in the
required amount, at the right time, and
on the right tooth.
Right lubrication on gears not only re-
duce wearing, but it also eliminates risk
of pitting, micropitting, scuffing, bend-
ing fatigue, and other mechanical failures
inherent to high loads on open gears.
It is also important to take into account
that protection to corrosion is becoming
critical issue; due to Wind Turbine mar-
ket tends new developments for offshore
environment and cold climate conditions,
where C4H or C5M comes to be manda-
tory.
MicroLubGear (MLG) is a novel technol-
ogy to avoid the energy generation loses
to lubricate the pitch at 0º position. Mi-
crolubgear – combined with a right Auto-
matic Lubrication System – lubricates the
tooth in contact while the wind turbine
operates and pitch system is working. It’s
just so simple. It’s just so accurate. It’s just
so efficient.

40 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

 WIND ENERGY

Figure shows a 3D model that integrates MLG device is suitable to be installed on steel AISI 316Ti) screwed on flat are on
MLG in a gear. The arrows represent the any pitch and yaw gears, for Onshore & the crown. Quicklinc and rotatable con-
grease flow inlet from the grease pump Offshore WTGs, even under Cold Climate nectors M6x100 are screwed at the inlets,
and the outlets are the injection of the Conditions. It is due to its availability from and high pressure hoses interconnect
grease to the tooth flank in contact with M12 to M24, and because it is customiz- them with the pump station of the sys-
the drive pinion. MLG is an automatic able to each gear width. Construction raw tem. As long as pitch operates, the au-
lubrication device which ROI is achieved material makes it corrosion resistant (C5- tomatic system feeds metered lubricant
before two years of operation, just by the M), and affordable as for serial manufac- to the gears throughout MLGs installed.
increase of energy generated because of turing as for retrofit. MLG has been also When MLGs are combined with PU lube
its advantages. designed to be compatible with adhesive Pinions, the automatic system tends to
This new simple device integrates I+D+i lubricants for open gears, which usually outstanding consequences: O&M com-
synergies and experience of Laulagun integrates graphite solid particles (bet- panies will spend less time for mainte-
bearings, Kluber lubricants and RIVI lubri- ter results achieved with homogenized nance, gear repairing or replacement will
cation systems. Leaded by UPC (University greases, and micronize degree lower than be reduced; and therefore cost afforded
Polytechnic of Cataluña) and financed by 10 micron). by wind farm owners will drastically get
KIC Innoenergy, this new lubrication de- Integration on gears is simple. Every down at the same proportion as the en-
vice has been developed to improve lubri- device is fixed by M4 screws (stainless ergy production increases 
cation system it belongs to, by mending
the grease film on gear teeth smoothly.
This way the grease consumption is opti-
mized, and O&M companies reduce cost
by extending maintenance intervals. WTGs
increase energy generation and prolong
gears useful life.
MLG device can be adapted on every
platform of WTGs – with electrical pitch
system, and also for yaw gears – from se-
rial production or even be retrofitted on
operative wind farms. It can be also inte-
grated and retrofitted in any Lincoln au-
tomatic lubrication systems based on lube
pinion (most wind turbines worldwide
houses Lincoln systems as default).
Operation Mode: the lubricant is pumped
from a centralized pumpstation and
distributed to the lube pinion/s and/or
MLG integrated at the dedendum of the gear.
MicroLubGear/s installed; MLGs must be
fixed on the dedendum of the teeth gear,
corresponding to the most frequent pitch
angle. Just a minimum and metered volume
of grease reaches MLG’s inlet – as long as
pitch system operates – and throughout
integrated microchannels, the lubricant is
evenly applied from the outlets to the tooth
flank. This way MLG improves the efficien-
cy of the automatic system pinion-based,
by applying a grease layer directly of gear
teeth that is going to be engaged, and op-
timizing grease consumption.
The number of MLGs must be defined
based on frequent pitch angle of WTG,
and lube pinion position (usually engaged
to drive pinion 90º C.W). From two to four
MLGs per drive pinion are recommended
to ensure an optimal grease coat on fric-
tion surfaces (flank teeth). Drawing 3D shows how MicroLubGear acts over friction surface, which suffers more frequent pitch angle.

energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14 41

WIND ENERGY
STEVE MILLER
TECHNICAL MARKETING MANAGER,
PHYSICAL MODELING, AT MATHWORKS
Developing complex turbines with
SIMULATING A NEW TURBINE PIECE BY PIECE ALLOWS WORKING OUT THE BUGS WHERE IT’S EASIEST – IN SIMULATION
W
ind turbines are more than
a set of integrated systems
working together to produce
electrical power. They must also correctly
interpret a range of environmental condi-
tions and react accordingly. As a commer-
cial power source, unscheduled downtime
is unacceptable. Turbine manufacturers
must provide reliable and robust units ca-
pable of promised availability.
As for all equipment development, testing is
an important phase of development. However,
testing on full sized turbine prototypes is chal-
lenging because of the cost of the test unit and
the range of test inputs based on wind con-
ditions and turbine placement. Using Model-
Based Design can reduce the number of tests
involving prototypes, make those tests more
effective, and enable engineers to maximize
the performance of the entire system.
More complex all the time
There are more than 23,500 wind turbines
in operation in Germany generating nearly
34,000 MW, which is roughly 7.5% of the
electricity consumed in Germany. The rapid
expansion of wind power is partly the result
of increased turbine size and the addition of
new wind farms. It is also due to technologi-
cal improvements in the wind turbines them-
selves. Better rotor-blade aerodynamics,
more efficient generators, and improved su-
pervisory control systems make today’s wind
turbines more efficient than ever before.
This enhanced technology presents engi-
neers with new challenges. A wind turbine is
a complex system in which a variety of sub-
systems must work together as efficiently as
possible. The subsystems include mechani-
cal devices such as rotor blades, gearboxes,
hydraulic or electric drives for setting blade
pitch angles, electrical yaw drives, genera-
tors, and the connection to the electrical
grid. All of these are monitored by a com-
plex supervisory control system that must
42
model-based design
respond in a specific way to varying environ-
mental conditions, such as changing wind
speeds.
In a traditional development process, the
various subsystems are created in separate
software and simulation environments, with
requirements captured in other environments,
such as text-based documents. This can result
in several problems. Because the require-
ments have not been incorporated into the
development process, it is difficult to compare
the design with the specifications. Engineers
are unable to determine if the changes to the
design still enable the system meet require-
ments. Worst of all, requirements that are
incorrect or incomplete will not be detected
until the subsystems are combined in the final
development phases when errors are expen-
sive or impossible to fix.
Errors found late in the development pro-
cess – when they are expensive to correct –
can result when engineers do not integrate
different designs early in the development
process. For example, if the teams develop-
ing the generator and the supervisory control
system work separately, it is difficult to pre-
dict what will happen when the subsystems
are integrated. Engineers working in different
software tools and simulation environments
may not have the option of testing the inte-
grated design in simulation. The result is that
subsystems can only be tested together when
hardware prototypes have been produced.
Since the wide range of weather conditions
and failure analyses prohibit exhaustive test-
ing on hardware prototypes due to cost, safe-
ty, and feasibility, parts and systems may be
overdesigned to make sure the turbine does
not fail.
Contradictory goals
Various control systems with competing
goals must interact with each other, and
this creates a difficult design challenge. For
example, the turbine monitoring system
must ensure it generates electricity upon
demand. At the same time, it must protect
individual parts from unnecessary wear
and tear. The supervisory control system
must observe both of these contradictory
goals.
Normally, the generator is only switched on
when the wind reaches a speed of 2 to 4 m/s.
Lower wind speeds fail to generate enough
power and unnecessarily wear turbine parts.
In high winds, controls shut down the gen-
erator and set the rotor spin slowly (or not at
all) so as to reduce load on the drive train. The
system that controls the blades attempts to
keep the generator’s speed in a relatively nar-
row range so it can generate the maximum
amount of power. Additionally, it must also
react to imminent power failures to control or
actuation systems within the turbine to pre-
vent the turbine from becoming unstable and
destroying itself.
Proper yaw control keeps the turbine facing
the wind during normal operation. The yaw
controller must also ensure that the nacelle
doesn’t turn in the same direction all the time
so that the cables in the tower do not twist
beyond their limit. Again, it is up to the su-
pervisory controller to reconcile these poten-
tially conflicting goals. Adding to the chal-
lenge is the fact that the system is non-linear,
including backlash in the gearbox and friction
in its large ball bearings.
Smooth and continuous
development
All subsystems in a turbine can be simu-
lated and tested as part of an integrated
system at an early development stage by
using Model-Based Design. Controller
hardware can be tested before building
prototypes of the full system. Systems
that must eventually work together– such
as the pitch and yaw actuators – can be
simulated together and matched for best
performance.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

Wind turbine developers who use this de-
sign philosophy profit from a smooth and
continuous development process. The models
and simulations exist in a single environment
and are linked directly to the requirements
and specifications. In addition, embedded
software can be generated directly from the
model. Doing so simplifies communication
between various teams and enables integra-
tion issues to be discovered earlier in the de-
sign process.
The workflow for Model-Based Design, which enables
early verification.
From model to code generation
Engineers start the development process by
modeling a wind turbine entirely in software
such as MATLAB and Simulink. Various blocks
represent the physical system with its me-
chanical, electrical, and hydraulic subsystems.
These are supplemented by models of aero-
dynamic loads and are stimulated by various
inputs, including wind speed and direction.
Mechanical and hydraulic systems modeled
using SimDriveline and SimHydraulics. Blocks
from standard libraries can be combined to
create custom geartrain and actuation mod-
els.
Mechanical and hydraulic systems modeled using SimDriveline and SimHydraulics. Blocks
from standard libraries can be combined to create custom geartrain and actuation models.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
Engineers can do system-level analyses to
select technologies and determine system
requirements. Ideal models of actuation sys-
tems can be gradually refined and replaced
by realistic models to determine system per-
formance. For example, an idealized pitch
actuator can determine the force an actuator
will need, letting the engineer size a hydraulic
cylinder. Developers can then add a more de-
tailed model of the selected hydraulic unit in
simulations. A yaw actuator’s model can start
as a single ideal torque source, and incremen-
tally refined to include four individual motors,
a model of the mechanical system including
a gearbox, circuit diagram, and other details.
As the requirements for the design are re-
fined, they can be added to the specification.
Documents containing specifications and
requirements connect directly to the model
using bi-directional links. This lets designers
easily navigate between the model and the
specification to check if all requirements are
still being satisfied at each stage of develop-
ment. This gradual progression lets engineers
test their design every step of the way, validat-
ing, and refining requirements.
Models for all subsystems can then be
combined and simulated in the early stages
of development. Subsystems developed by
separate teams can be gradually added to
the overall simulation to test system perfor-
mance. At each step, the tradeoff of model
fidelity and simulation speed can be balanced
so designers can iterate quickly and check
for integration issues. For example, when
focusing on a yaw controller, the engineer
can use a detailed model of the yaw system
and quickly substitute a lower fidelity model
for the pitch system into the overall model.
This keeps simulation times short while mak-
ing it possible to check for integration issues
between these two systems.
Different simulations can now be conducted
using an entire system-level model. A 3D ani-
A system-level model of wind turbine, including electrical, hydraulic,
mechanical, and control systems.
WIND ENERGY
mation of the system and plots displaying dif-
ferent values of relevance can show turbine
developers how the design reacts under vary-
ing conditions.
A system-level model of wind turbine, in-
cluding electrical, hydraulic, mechanical, and
control systems.
Reducing the need for physical
prototypes
The simulation model can generate C code
that can be used for two purposes. C code
is generated from the control algorithms
in the model for the supervisory control
system and can be targeted to controller
hardware. To test this control code and the
controller hardware, hardware-in-the-loop
(HiL) tests can be used instead of physi-
cal prototypes of the wind turbine. HiL
involves using the model of the physical
system (mechanical, electrical, and hy-
draulic) to generate C code and download
it onto a real-time computer. The HiL real-
time computer connects to the hardware
controller and mimics the behavior of the
actual wind turbine. Engineers can test
the control system over a wider range of
conditions than would be possible with
a physical prototype. And, by using the
same model of the physical system as used
in the earlier phases of development, the
engineer can verify that the generated
code performs exactly as it did in during
desktop simulation.
Using Model-Based Design allows testing
the system and controller hardware before
hardware prototypes are even made, as well
as on-site power failures. This saves engineers
from traveling to a turbine site to diagnose
problems, which is particularly useful for tur-
bines erected at remote locations. Engineers
can streamline the wind turbine development
process, optimize performance, and cut de-
velopment times in half 
43
WIND ENERGY

MIGUEL ANGEL CARRERA

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER AT TERMAGRAF

Thermography of wind farms

In systems with a large number of devices as a wind farm is interesting the performance of infrared
thermography specialists. A thermographic temperature measurement requires a professional
calibration and rigorous methodology, a correct interpretation, the use of cameras and software
for high performance, and demonstrate the relevant certificate training and experience.

S
pain is one of the world leaders in
wind energy production. His wind-
mills park reached in 2013 the figure
of 31,000 MW of power, and its continued
availability requires rigorous predictive main-
tenance program to ensure its operability
For good measure, you have to look good.
In every factory, efficiency and energy sav-
ings control the thermal behavior of new
designs, preventing breakdowns and equip-
ment performance are key factors for in-
creasing productivity and competitiveness.
The responsibility for maintaining vital facili-
ties and services requires wind farms to find
the best and most efficient systems for moni-
toring and control. In this context the infrared
thermography shows all its advantages.
Most of the faults in pregnancy involve
changes in thermal patterns of the teams.
Electrical contacts problems involve an in-
crease in electrical resistance, and, by Joule
effect, an increase in its temperature. Prob-
lems of lubrication in mechanical systems
add more friction which also involves a varia-
tion of its temperature. Each thermal anom-
aly has a recognizable pattern by a trained
thermographer and, not needing physical
contact, thermography does not interfere or
interrupt the production process.
In systems with a large number of devices
as a wind farm is interesting the perfor-
mance of infrared thermography specialists.
A thermographic temperature measurement
requires a professional calibration and rigor-
ous methodology, a correct interpretation,
the use of cameras and software for high
performance, and demonstrate the relevant
certificate training and experience.
The use of cameras with lower resolutions
implies that the measurement of the tem-
perature of a hot spot is performed by a few
pixels, so that the accuracy decreases. This
can completely change the severity criteria
of a problem, generating misdiagnosis that
may involve high costs.
These severity criteria depend not only on
the operating conditions, but the impor-
tance and consequences that can generate
the failure of that component in the opera-
tion of the complete system.
In a thermographic inspection TermaGraf
can detect and locate detail thermal anoma-
lies or potential faults in advance. Establish
a routine periodic inspection allows wind
farms have basic information for your pre-
dictive maintenance system is effective, de-
veloping databases of each component to
manage information and provide historical
reports showing your progress and antici-
pate future breakdowns.
The windmills are perfect examples of the
application of thermography as a predictive
maintenance tool: Switching gears, electric
motors, generators, transformers, electrical
panels, reducing, fans, pumps... may have
problems of fatigue, connections, lubrica-
tion, imbalances between phases with iden-
tifiable thermal patterns in a thermal imag-
ing inspection with the precise methodology.
Predictive maintenance aims to reduce pro-
duction losses by unplanned stops , thereby
increasing productivity and profitability , de-
creasing the time required for planned stops.
There are also procedures active ther-
mography the wind blade manufacture, to
control the quality of the vanes and locate
possible delamination in its casing. Any
discontinuity in thickness will cause a varia-
tion in the transmission of a pulse of heat
through it, so you can register with the ther-
mal imager.
TermaGraf is a specialized consulting in
thermographic surveys in electrical, industrial
and photovoltaic plants, and energy audits
in buildings (thermography and blower-door
test) with Level II certificate engineers and
passivhaus architects 

44 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

WIND ENERGY
Jim Ryan
CD-adapco Energy Sector Manager
CD-adapco has been operating in the en-
ergy industry for many years. How did
the idea to establish the company come
about? What was your vision?
Since the earliest days of the company,
adapco were heavily focused in the en-
ergy industry. As an engineering services
startup, we developed expertise in the
nuclear industry as well as gas and coal
processing. CD-adapco was formed from
the merger of adapco and Computation-
al Dynamics (CD), which was the perfect
marriage of engineering software exper-
tise with engineering services experience.
Since those days, CD-adapco has contin-
ued to grow and mature along with engi-
neering simulation in the energy industry.
Our vision in the energy industry is very
much akin to our vision in the market
overall: We intend to provide the indus-
try with engineering simulation software
and services that exceeds the expecta-
tions for accurate, efficient, flexible, af-
fordable and robust solutions.
Regarding wind farm siting simulation,
what sets you apart from the competi-
tion?
We have tailored our proven, general-
purpose simulation software, STAR-
CCM+, to make it easier and faster for
wind-farm engineers to do explorative
What-If studies to predict the Annual
Energy Produced (AEP) resulting from
variations in the wind speed & direc-
tion as well as the number & position of
wind turbines in the farm. And we have
46
CD-adapco provides the industry with engineering simulation
software and services that “exceeds the expectations for
accurate, efficient, flexible, affordable and robust solutions”,
Jim Ryan comments.
“More than 40% of the 700+
worldwide CD-adapco employees
are dedicated to R&D”
validated our simulation results against
numerous published papers and experi-
ments involving data from existing wind
farms.
Our customized workflow involves the
automated importing and use of terrain
data (including ground topography and
forest canopies), the setup of numerous
wind turbine locations and wind direc-
tions, the associated volume meshes
and atmospheric boundary conditions,
and the solution for steady or unsteady,
turbulent air flows while accurately ac-
counting for wake interactions.
CD-adapco is specialized in multidisci-
plinary solutions to simulate systems
for power generation. Are you explor-
ing new renewable energy supplies?
And if so, which?
In addition to wind energy, CD-adapco’s
customer-companies are leveraging engi-
neering simulation software to obtain the
highest possible efficiency and cleanest
form of energy from every source imag-
inable – ranging from the use of water
turbines in dams to tidal turbines in rivers
and oceans, to solar collectors, and clean
combustion of biofuels and biomass, in
addition to new and innovative designs
for nuclear energy reactors and ever-low-
er emissions from traditional fossil fuels
used in combined cycle power plants.
How do you view the wind turbine
analysis market? More specifically,
what will be the next step in this field?
As focus shifts toward installation of off-
shore wind farms in ever deeper waters,
CD-adapco is well positioned to help
companies design stable, long-lasting
wind turbine platforms that serve as re-
liable additions to electric power grids
worldwide. We expect simulation to be-
come increasingly valuable as companies
seek to explore and develop innovative
corrosion-resistant, buoyant platforms
and mooring systems that help offshore
wind turbines withstand the hydrody-
namic effects of saltwater and wave im-
pacts.
What resources does the company dedi-
cate to R&D?
CD-adapco has a 30+ year history of
heavy investment in the development of
engineering simulation technology. Today,
more than 40% of the 700+ worldwide
CD-adapco employees are dedicated to
R&D. In addition, we continue to invest in
one of the largest collections of computing
facilities dedicated to engineering simula-
tion.
Because we are a privately held com-
pany, we are not beholden to the stock
markets, which allows us to invest more
freely in R&D. This combined with the vi-
sion and drive of our founders to remain at
the forefront of technology development
results in many satisfied customers that
have the confidence of knowing that CD-
adapco will provide innovative, accurate,
efficient, and robust technology to solve
their problems 
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
ENGINES & GENSETS

DRESSER-RAND GUASCOR

Engines, gensets & complete generating plants

for distributed generation, cogeneration and bio-energy

Dresser-Rand Guascor engines & gensets, with over 45 years of experience, offers energy
solutions in the design, research and manufacture of energy production systems (from the
engine to a complete generation plant). It is well known worldwide in the distributed generation,
cogeneration and renewable energies (bio energy) sectors, and works directly with sustainable
development.

E
fficient energy use is the goal to
reduce the amount of energy re-
quired to provide products and ser-
vices. Improvements in energy efficiency
are generally achieved by adopting a more
efficient technology or production proces-
ses or by application of commonly accep-
ted methods to reduce energy losses.
Energy efficiency and renewable energy
are said to be the twin pillars of sustain-
able energy policy and are high priorities in
the sustainable energy hierarchy.
Among the most recent experiences in
Europe, we can highlight the following
projects:
s Doñasantos installation – This project
is part of the new biomass pelletizing
plant for Hijos de Tomás Martín in Do-
ñasantos (Spain). The company started
out as a carpentry business and today
the facility produces from 450 to 500
tons of wood pellets each day.
The solution of this project incorpo-
rates a Guascor HGM560 container-
ized CHP unit with a 1 MWe output
and adds a new product for the grow-
ing market of renewable thermal heat-
ing systems to this industrial sawmill.
It maximizes natural gas resources for
power (electricity and heat) production
by:
- Recovering heat from exhaust ga-
ses and engine main circuit to pro-
duce hot air for the biomass pelle-
tizing process.
- Recovering heat from the engine
auxiliary circuit to eliminate natural
s Mlekovita installation – Mlekovita is
gas consumption in the natural gas
regasification boiler and to heat
the plant´s office.
s Chelyabinsk installation – Vidgof is a fi-
ve-star hotel in Chelyabinsk (Russia), a
20-story building that occupies 30.000
square miles. Dresser-Rand contributed
to this power and heat generation pro-
ject by building a full-fledged, multi-le-
vel power plant that acts as the energy
center of the complex. The fourth level
plant houses its engine and control
room on the ground level, two water
boilers with a capacity of 3.78 MW and
a heat recovery system on the second
level, and water treatment, pumping
and cooling systems on the third level.
The roof houses a compression cooling
system and horizontal cooler units.
Powered by the Guascor SFGL-
D360500rpm 50Hz natural gas engine,
the exhaust recovery system provides:
- Air conditioning: central air and
central system ventilation
- Automation: central building ma-
nagement system for LonWorks
network platform.
- Security: around-the-clock security
for the building, including video
surveillance for all entrances and
common areas, as well as access
control to the complex.
one of the largest dairy factories in Po-
land. The CHP uses four Dresser-Rand
Guascor SFGLD natural gas gensets
that provide 1.6 MWe of power. The
gensets warm up the condensates
back-flow for the steam boilers from
the dairy factory and produce process
steam at 4 bar for internal use. The
CHP uses condensing heat exchange
technology, and as a result, the plant
received a certificate for a CHP global
efficiency of 102 percent during the
acceptance test.
Dresser-Rand, a global supplier of rotat-
ing equipment solutions to the oil, gas,
petrochemical, power generation, and
process industries, has been honored by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agen-
cy’s (EPA) Combined Heat and Power
Partnership with the 2013 Certificate of
Avoided GHG Emissions 

48 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

ENGINES & GENSETS
WEG ELECTRIC MOTORS
WEG helps to generate
for Windsor Castle
A project delivered by Southeast Power Engineering has seen a mini power station being installed
on the River Thames at Romney weir to produce electricity sustainably using environmentally
friendly water driven Archimedes screw generators. The completed design features two WEG
W22 Premium Efficiency IE3 generators being driven by the screws via a gearbox to produce
electricity which now powers Windsor Castle.
T
he scheme is the brainchild of David
Dechambeau, Managing Director of
Southeast Power Engineering, who
has overseen every step of the design and
installation process. The power station has
now been generating electricity since July
2013 and is in the final stages of comple-
ting testing and commissioning.
The power station consists of two Archi-
medes screws, each weighing 40 tonnes,
connected to the WEG W22 IE3 class pre-
mium efficiency generators, which were
targeted to produce a combined output
50
hydro-electricity
of 300kW/hr. However, after some adjust-
ments to the screw position, they are now
The WEG W22 delivering 320kW/hr at peak flow, exceed-
IE3 generators were ing the original design criteria.
designed The WEG W22 IE3 generators were de-
signed and manufactured in Portugal at
and manufactured in WEG’s dedicated European manufacturing
Portugal at site; they are rated at 185kW and produce
WEG’s dedicated electricity at 400V, which is then fed via
a 500kVA transformer to an underground
European line that connects to Windsor Castle as
manufacturing site well as the National Grid.
The W22 units are specials in that they
are generators based on a W22 motor, the
reason being that in this application; when
the screws need to be re-started, electric-
ity is used to start the screws turning and
then as the speed increases, so the motor
function is changed over to a generator
and the rotation of the screw is maintained
by the water which in turn maintains the
generator speed to produce the electricity.
Efficiency was a key target for this applica-
tion as the installation has a fixed ROI period,
at 96% efficiency the WEG motor/genera-
tors represented one of the best investments
Southeast Power could make in the power
transmission design to ensure their six year
ROI target was met. The installation has a
minimum guaranteed design life of 15 years
and Southeast Power has a 40 year tenancy
of the site, so reliability and longevity were
also very important considerations – if the
screws stop turning then there is a direct
consequence in terms of revenue.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

David Dechambeau comments, “In order
to make this project sustainable, it was
essential that we selected the most effi-
cient equipment for the construction of
this power station. The design called for a
reliable generator with superior efficiency
ratings and on balance the WEG compo-
nent definitely fitted the criteria and it was
straightforward to install.”
The most complicated part of the project
was to ensure that the screws turn at the
correct speed to ensure that the gearbox,
which has a set gear ratio, turned the gen-
erator at the correct speed to allow a con-
sistent 50 Hz supply. Maintaining the most
efficient output means having a system of
constant monitoring and being able to
make changes to the angle of the screws
to cope with changes in water level. This
can now be done using an app, which al-
lows changes to be made remotely using
a mobile phone.
David Dechambeau adds, “This is a very
important project for us, not only because
we are supplying the Royal Household, but
also as an initial stepping stone for a num-
ber of similar projects. It is essential that
we install the most efficient and ecologi-
cally sound power plant as possible. The
work we are completing now will help to
deliver future projects using similar tech-
nology as demand for sustainable power
is understandably going to increase.”
W22 sets the benchmark
The W22 motor sets the standard for af-
fordable energy efficiency in the WEG
range; while super-high efficiency IE4 mo-
tors are available, the IE3 standard offers
96% efficient W22 machines from frac-
tional kW ratings to megawatt powers
off-the-shelf. These machines, whether
used as motors or adapted to become
generators satisfy an attractive balance
between high efficiency, range, availabil-
ity and value.
Several key environmental objectives
have also been achieved in the design of
the W22 motor including a very low car-
bon footprint in manufacture, reduction
in noise and vibration levels, a reduced
thermal footprint, easy maintenance and
built-in compatibility with inverter drives.
The Premium Efficiency (IE3) level es-
tablished in IEC 60034-30: 2008 is the
highest efficiency class that it is practical
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
Estimates are that
the hydro-electric
generation capacity is
equivalent to £1million
worth of local coal
generation, effectively
reducing carbon dioxide
emissions by 790,000
kilos per year
to achieve using a squirrel cage induction
motor, whilst remaining economically vi-
able. It is also the optimum solution to
increase the efficiency of an existing ap-
plication through direct replacement.
When you look at the total cost of own-
ership (TCO) for one of the machines
over its lifetime the cost of acquisition
typically represents only 1% of the total
cost of ownership of an electric motor. In
contrast, the associated energy savings
provided by premium efficiency motors
far outweigh this additional investment
in purchase price, particularly in applica-
tions where the process operates on a
24hr basis.
A reduction in CO2 emissions is one of
the clear advantages and therefore ben-
efits, of increasing efficiency in industry.
For example, according to the guidelines
set out by the International Energy Agen-
cy (IEA) of 504 kg of CO2 per 1,000kWh,
ENGINES & GENSETS
it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions by
approximately 25,000 kg per year with a
250 kW premium efficiency motor, when
compared against an equivalent standard
efficiency (IE1) machine.
Green power gets Royal approval
The Windsor hydroelectric project repre-
sents an investment of over £1.7 million
coming from a consortium of private and
public funds, but success was not a fore-
gone conclusion as it has taken several
years for a scheme to get off the ground
after previous attempts failed due to
problems with alternative technology and
funding.
The royal household has agreed to buy
the power generated by the Romney Weir
generators, guaranteeing an income for
the project, but also cutting overheads
for the site. The Queen already has an-
other hydroelectric plant in Balmoral and
the Prince of Wales employs solar panels
and wood chip boilers on his estate, the
Archimedes screws however are the larg-
est project so far and fit-in with a policy by
the Royal Household to both cut bills and
reduce its carbon footprint.
Estimates are that the hydro-electric gen-
eration capacity is equivalent to £1million
worth of local coal generation, effectively
reducing carbon dioxide emissions by
790,000 kilos per year. The ecological side
of the project goes further than just sustain-
able power generation though, with a new
‘fish path’ being been built alongside the
weir to allow fish and eels to migrate up the
river for the first time in centuries 
51
ENGINES & GENSETS
WÄRTSILÄ
2-stroke, low-speed, dual-fuel
Wärtsilä has recently introduced its 2-stroke, low-speed, dual-fuel (DF) engine technology. The
significance of the new technology is that the low pressure, dual-fuel benefits that are already
available to 4-stroke engines, can now be applied to 2-stroke engines as well.
T
his technology, at this point inten-
ded for the marine industry, is now
available to the broader merchant
shipping market, along with the dual eco-
nomic and environmental advantages that
it offers.
On the environmental side, the over-
whelmingly important benefit is that Wärt-
silä’s unique low pressure DF engine is NOx
compliant with the IMO’s Tier III regula-
tions without secondary measures. There
are no sulfur emissions and close to zero
particulate emissions, while the pilot fuel
consumption is extremely low at just one
per cent of the fuel used. Furthermore, the
technology enables LNG fuel to be used
at all engine loads, so there is no need to
switch to diesel at low loads – when ma-
neuvering or in port – as is the case with
other DF technologies. This has an obvious
impact on the vessel’s exhaust emissions,
as well as on operating costs.
In addition to the environmental ben-
efits, there are related economic advan-
tages. There are no investments needed
in exhaust gas cleaning systems, and the
LNG gas handling system is far simpler
and less expensive than that of alternative
technologies.
The technology has already been prov-
en over many years with the company’s
52
engine technology
4-stroke, medium-speed DF engines. The
real significance is that the test engine, the
Wärtsilä RT-flex50DF, is the first low-speed
engine optimized to operate on gas fuel
that has been introduced to the market.
The entire portfolio of Wärtsilä 2-stroke
engines will be available as low pressure
dual-fuel versions.
With the acquisition of Hamworthy,
Wärtsilä’s gas handling capabilities cover
all the LNG value chain - total solutions
concept significantly strengthened.
LNG terminal solutions
In addition to power plant and ship power
solutions and services, Wärtsilä has signed a
turnkey contract to supply a liquefied natu-
ral gas (LNG) receiving terminal to be built
in Tornio, northern Finland. The contract,
valued at approximately EUR 100 million,
has been made with Manga LNG Oy, a joint
venture between the Finnish companies
Outokumpu Group, Ruukki Metals Oy, Ga-
sum Oy and EPV Energy Ltd. The contract
is conditional on receipt of investment sup-
port and Manga LNG Oy’s contracts with
other parties, including the gas suppliers.
The main user of the natural gas from
the terminal will be the Outokumpu Tornio
steel mill, but industries, mines, and oth-
er potential gas consumers in the region
will also be served. The terminal may also
eventually supply LNG to ships, such as the
new icebreaker planned to operate in the
Tornio and Bay of Bothnia region.
Wärtsilä is recognized for its market
leading gas engine technology as well as
for its broad offering in gas handling sys-
tems. With the Tornio Manga LNG receiv-
ing terminal, Wärtsilä is for the first time
combining its strong Power Plants EPC ca-
pability with its industry leading LNG gas
handling technology to provide a turnkey
LNG terminal solution. As LNG continues
to replace oil and other fuels worldwide,
Wärtsilä sees strong global market poten-
tial for medium-scale LNG distribution.
The combination of market-leading LNG
technology, ship design, and gas-fired ma-
rine propulsion and power plants enables
Wärtsilä to take a leading role in end-to-
end LNG systems 
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

CATERPILLAR ENERGY SOLUTIONS
Three new containers for landfill
application in the North of Portugal
Caterpillar Energy Solutions consolidates itself as a solution provider in the waste treatment area
with the supply of three containers for several CHP plants in the north of Portugal. The supply of
these containers will provide an electric output of 800kWe per engine, that will work in parallel
with the grid. The gensets, with an efficiency of 42.4 %, guarantee a heat recovery of the energy
coming from the biogas produced.
R
esinorte, the company which ma-
nages the solid waste treatment in
the north and centre of Portugal,
granted the company Painhas the awar-
ding of several landfills located in the nor-
th area of the country.
The three plants located in Gonça, Boti-
cas and Santo Tirso are equipped with
three MWM containerized gensets TC-
G2016V16. In these plants, the biogas is
currently burned in torches and therefore
it has no further use, but with these MWM
gensets, the biogas from the solid waste
treatment can be used to produce electric
power.
As a turn-key project, the three gensets
were supplied containerized for each one
of the plants. The containers comprise all
the necessary equipment for their perfect
running, management and control. The
adaptability of these containers makes
easier their installation, since there is no
need of prior civil works, except for the
concrete frame where they are placed.
Once the containers are located in the
concrete frame, the only thing that they
need is a gas line for the fuel, in this case
biogas, and a wiring to the power line that
will inject the electric power produced to
the grid.
MWM has improved its container design
thanks to the new facilities where they
are designed, produced and tested. The
MWM facilities have several test bench
workstations where the containers and all
the equipment and systems that they com-
prise are tested to run correctly. Thanks to
their design and the reliability of all their
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
ENGINES & GENSETS
components, the commissioning works at
site is significantly reduced. The three con-
tainers delivered to the CHP plants of Bot-
ica, Santo Tirso and Gonça are equipped
with this new design.
In only 122 m3, each container has two
different areas clearly identified, the en-
gine room and the control room. Both ar-
eas are equipped with a gas and smoke
detection system.
In the engine room the following systems
are located: the biogas supply, the engine
cooling and the clean and wasted oil sys-
tem.
s The biogas supply system comprises a
blower, a CH4 sensor and the biogas
train which ensures the adequate en-
gine inlet pressure.
s The engine cooling system comprises
the following circuits:
a. High temperature circuit, HT. In this
circuit the lube oil, the first stage
of the gas-air mixture cooling and
the engine jacket circuit are cooled
down. The heat to be dissipated in
the HT circuit is 415kW.
b. Low Temperature cooling circuit,
LT. In this circuit the second stage
of the gas-air mixture cooling sys-
tem takes place. The heat to be dis-
sipated here is 74 kW.
s The container lube oil system compri-
ses a clean oil tank, a wasted oil tank
and an engine prelubrication pump,
which drains the oil pan of the engine.
All the auxiliaries (pumps, three way
valves, etc.) and measurement sensors of
the aforementioned systems are located in
the engine room, except for the table cool-
ers and the exhaust gas system, which are
located on top of the container roof.
The table coolers and the exhaust gas
system are mounted on base frames and
they are supplied as loose parts in order
to make easier their carriage to the plant.
Once they are at site, they are easily in-
stalled on the container roof in only one
working day.
The table coolers guarantee that the heat
of the HT and LT circuits is dissipated cor-
rectly. On the other side, the exhaust gas
system comprises a chimney and a gas
silencer that reduces 40dB(A) the noise
made by the exhaust gas.
In the other area of the container, the
generator circuit breaker, the auxiliary and
the control cabinets are located in the con-
trol room. The engine is controlled thanks
to the TEM system developed by MWM,
which allows an easy and an independent
management of the engine.
Despite each container is located in a dif-
ferent plant and there is a distance greater
than 50 Km amongst them, the container
management will be carried out directly
from the customer offices 
53
SMART GRIDS
SENSING & CONTROL
The energy consumer of the future is flexible
Sensing & Control Systems of Barcelona and the European Project GreenCom are developing an
intelligent energy management system for a commercial Smart Grid, structured around consumer
flexibility. Pilot site is the Danish Island of Fur.
GreenCom system under test.
W
orking together with an Elec-
trical Distribution Supply Orga-
nisation (EnergiMidt) and five
other partners, we are trialing contracts
that allow us to exchange customer flexi-
bility in return for a reward (such as lower
energy prices)”, states Richard Croyle, di-
rector of Product Development at Sensing
& Control Systems.
One such example contract is called
Heat as a Service. It aims to allow the DSO
the ability to balance peak demand by
staggering the activation of heat pumps
in individual homes based on near term
grid and weather predictions. This greatly
assists the DSO as they balance the de-
mand and supply across the entire grid.
In return for the flexibility provided, the
DSO offers the end customer a substan-
tial benefit such as a subsidy for instal-
lation of a new heat pump, or a reduced
energy tariff.
Two GUIs are being developed for the
project. The first is a DSO dashboard that
presents real time aggregated user trans-
former loads to the DSO. It supplements
this with a forecast for the next few hours
and importantly, will provide options al-
lowing the DSO to select actions that will
enable balancing of the grid both at the
54
balance the grid in the
face of fluctuating re-
newable supplies.
The first users of
the Pilot have been
extremely supportive
and interested in the
pilot with the Island
of Fur resident Niels
Christian Færk Ander-
sen commenting “Ac-
DSO Dashboard (LV Grid Overview).
cess to a website with
information on our
current point in time and over the next few energy consumption
hours. will mean that we become more aware of
This dashboard provides a unique view our energy consumption and possibly bet-
of the LV grid with the presentation of ter at saving energy. My requirements for a
actual data allowing rapid pin-pointing of contract would include being notified be-
overloaded cables and sub-stations. This is fore changes occur and receiving informa-
clearly innovative, as in many countries the tion continuously to be able to follow the
first that the DSO knows about a problem process closely”
in their LV grid is when they receive a tele- The project is now into its second year
phone call from an upset customer. and is developing the technical systems in
order to add renewable-energy storage
Energy savings and energy systems into the pilot and it´s monitoring
storage framework. We are also further develop-
Since the GreenCom project is focused on ing the interactive and intuitive interfaces
the LV side of the Grid and the end us- of the system in order to please our cus-
ers, GreenCom is also providing a GUI for tomers such as Niels Christian Færk Ander-
the end users. This interface both informs sen, the energy retailers and the DSOs.
the users of the actions being driven by One question though, is how did an SME
the DSO, or energy retailer according to like Sensing and Control manage to enter
their contract, but also provides them with such a large and important European proj-
a means to interact with that service pro- ect?
vider and an extremely simplified view of The answer is that Sensing took advan-
their homes energy consumption in order tage of their own international experience
to generate further energy savings. and a company dedicated to International
For now, the project intends to use the Innovation, nVision Systems & Technolo-
trees to promote competition between gies. Richard commented “Gaining entry
users, but a service provider in the future to a project of this magnitude is not easy,
may instead convert won trees into an end without the help of nVision and their deep
user reward. This will allow energy provid- knowledge of European projects we would
ers to interact with users to further help not have known where to begin” 
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

ENERGÉTICA INTERNATIONAL
The “brain” behind the Smart Grid
The term Smart Grid is often used but its concept is still not very clear. During a recent trip
organized by Alstom Grid (Alstom’s business section) responsible for developing solutions for
future electricity networks, Energetica 21 had the opportunity to gain insight into the “Nice Grid”
one of the leading European smart grid projects.
I
n the frame of the European Grid4EU
initiative the “Nice Grid” project was
selected as the first smart solar district
demonstration project to be conducted in
Europe. As a consequence, the small village
of Carros located in the French department
“Alpes Maritimes”, close to the town of
Nice, has agreed in 2011 to be a “play-
ground” for smart grid specialists during
the next four years. A whole district of the
village with several hundreds of residential
and business customers are participating in
the pilot project, where outstanding com-
panies and institutions try to achieve real
experience, introduce new technologies in
the grids of the future and study the bu-
siness model behind the smart grid. The
project is designed to test an innovative
architecture for medium- and low-voltage
distribution with high influence of photo-
voltaic power, the dominant renewable
energy source in the region.
Europe’s electricity networks have been
during decades the bridge between elec-
tricity producers and consumers. The cen-
tralized infrastructure of this system has
become obsolete in the past decade due
to the strong renewable energy develop-
ment and new energy efficiency tools on
the demand side.
The fast changing power market scenar-
io requires an urgent transformation of the
grid that has to face new challenges like
the intermittent incorporation of renew-
able energies, the electric vehicle market,
the smart housing and the energy storage
installations. Alstom executives pointed
out “the consumer will never be the
same.” The unidirectional communication
between the energy suppliers and the con-
sumer has fi nished. The “prosumer” will
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
dominate the distribution grid as a power
generator, consumer and decision maker.
The era of a bidirectional communication
has been inaugurated.
NEM, the Network Energy
Manager
To manage these challenges Alstom Grid
has developed NEM, the “brain“ behind
the Grid, able to interconnect disparate
systems and distributed energy resources
while balancing generation and load. NEM
is a smart energy management solution
with the capacity to control and optimize
the full range of local energy resources
available to solar districts in real time. The
Network Energy Manager handles the
load reduction from Demand Response
and Storage, the massive integration of
renewable energy- in the Nice Grid project
proceeding from large industrial produc-
ers with roof top installations or residential
producers- avoiding also overvoltage situ-
ations. The system controls and manages
the different scenarios achieving an opti-
mal skilling of flexibilities.
Introducing the new MaxSineTM
eStorage
Alstom also supplied its new MaxSineTM
eStorage conversion solution to meet
energy-storage needs. It charges or drains
batteries based on electricity demand
across the power grid, thereby reducing
the amount of energy required from the
operator, RTE.
The Nice Grid has three levels of storage
needs:
s In the residential area, solar energy and
batteries.
s In the industrial buildings, solar power
SMART GRIDS
and media size batteries
s In the substation where ERDF is star-
ting the distribution
The benefits of MaxSineTM eStorage
span across power generation, transmis-
sion, and distribution. Each MaxSineTM
eStorage module is connected to a battery
up to 2MW, and with additional modules,
storage capacity can reach 12MW. At gen-
eration level, MaxSineTM eStorage offers a
back-up solution for times when electricity
resources are in high demand, such as eve-
ning hours in an urban environment. Pow-
er generators and transmission operators
can store their production in times of low
demand and low prices. The stored energy
can later be made available within seconds
to handle peak loads, helping to manage
congestion. At distribution and city level,
MaxSineTM eStorage helps everyday con-
sumers to better manage their energy and
to buy when prices are lower.
MaxSineTM eStorage is installed with
a power converter and real-time control
software. The power converter connects
the Direct Current (DC) battery to the Al-
ternating Current (AC) grid, and converts
electricity to be stored in the battery or to
be dispatched into the grid for consump-
tion. The software constitutes an eStorage
management system that tailors a produc-
tion plan. It responds rapidly to weather
conditions and demand to balance energy
on the grid, alongside safe and efficient
load management and frequency regula-
tion.
The Nice Grid project is an important step
to educate society towards new energy
models and find a business model and is
the foundation for the Smart Cities of to-
morrow 
55
SMART GRIDS
JANNE LEPPÄAHO
HEAD OF CUSTOMER PROJECTS
AT LANDIS+GYR
Landis+Gyr in Finland excels
as smart metering front-runner
Smart metering coverage in Finland has exceeded the national target of 80 percent within the given
legal timeframe: At the end of 2013 coverage was close to 100 percent. One third of the Finnish
residential smart metering market is now managed with Landis+Gyr’s Gridstream solution.
T
o date, Landis+Gyr has delivered over
one million smart meters to a number
of Finnish energy companies – the
equivalent of delivering a smart meter to
every third Finnish household. The following
article looks at Landis+Gyr smart metering
projects rolled out between 2010 and 2013
in Finland during the run-up to achieving the
milestone.
Point of departure
The first residential smart metering rollouts
began in the late 1990s. These were carried
out after a positive business case showed
that there were consumer segments where
the benefits of smart metering clearly ex-
ceeded the required investment costs. The
introduction of a new law on billing and
smart metering, which was introduced in
2009, stipulated that 80 percent of Finn-
ish households were to have smart meters
installed by the beginning of 2014. Major
smart metering contracts with the country’s
largest utilities were signed after a thorough
public tendering process, which was started
in 2009 – parallel to introduction of the new
law. A majority of the smart meters were
then installed between 2010 and 2013.
Project scope
The market requirements for smart meter-
ing solutions were all quite similar, indepen-
dent of the utility: Each utility required tariff
and hourly profile data, power quality data,
56
disconnector and load controls, as well as
alarms. In almost every case, the vendors
were requested to provide a complete smart
metering solution as a turnkey delivery, in-
cluding:
s Smart meters
s Communications
s Smart metering software
s Software integration to the utility’s IT
systems (minimum requirement was in-
tegration to the Customer Information
System, CIS).
s Installations
s Project management
Many utilities required a multi-energy solu-
tion capable of managing district heat or gas
metering, as well as electricity, with a single
solution, and most utilities wanted to out-
source all smart metering operations.
Antti Latsa, Customer Service Manager at
Finnish energy company Järvi-Suomen Ener-
gia comments that, during the procurement
phase, it was “already clear that we wanted
to take a comprehensive approach to mak-
ing the best out of smart metering technol-
ogy”. So far, says Latsa, the energy company
has benefited from the technology: After a
recent heavy storm they were able to locate
affected areas in the low voltage network
“more precisely” and in many cases received
information regarding the metering points
that were without electricity supply before
the customer contacted them. “This is just
one example out of many that shows that
Helsinki (Finland)
there are a number of possibilities to make
best use from metering data now and well
into the future,” he comments.
Technologies employed
Landis+Gyr provided the Finnish market
with its comprehensive Gridstream end-to-
end smart metering solution, which com-
prised the following elements as a turnkey
delivery, including project management
and installations:
s E450 and E350 smart meters
- The meters measure hourly con-
sumption and power quality infor-
mation. All meters include remotely
controllable relays that can be used
to control individual loads in a house-
hold, for example for water boilers or
heating. The meters are also equip-
ped with a disconnector/connector
that can control the power supply
(power on/off).
s Two-way communication between smart
meters and smart metering software
- Hourly metering data is usually ‘pus-
hed’ once a day.
- On-demand reading requests and
controls can be made.
- The communication technology
used is usually PLAN+ PLC commu-
nication, supplemented with 2G/3G
communication. RF Mesh commu-
nication is also used when there are
220,000 metering points.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
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SMART GRIDS
- M-Bus communications is used in
communications between the me-
ters in multi-energy cases.
s Gridstream AIM smart metering software
- The Gridstream software manages
meter readings, and processes smart
metering data. It acts as the bridge
between the metering park and utili-
ty IT systems, handling all communi-
cation and control of smart devices.
It also provides data storage, unifica-
tion and validation.
s AIMIA
- The integration platform of Grids-
tream AIM is used to enable two-way
integration with utility IT-systems, e.g.
CIS, NIS and MDMS. This means that
utility personnel who are not in the
metering department can gain ac-
cess and utilize smart metering data
smoothly and efficiently, without ne-
eding to separately access the smart
metering system.
Today, Landis+Gyr manages over 750,000
metering points under its Meter Reading
Service for utilities that outsourced the smart
metering operations.
Rollout
Smart metering projects have all been large-
scale initiatives in Finland – at the height of
activity, a smart meter was installed every
minute in Landis+Gyr projects, peaking to
1,700 daily meter installations in a single proj-
ect. Landis+Gyr carried out the installation of
smart meters with contracted partners.
During the roll-out phase, a professional
project management model was used, and
optimized, based on models employed in
previous large-scale rollouts conducted in
Sweden and Denmark. Installation of meters
is not just a technical process, but a logisti-
cal and communication challenge: ensuring
correct meter types and communication
technologies are used for the designated
metering point, as well as contacting end-
customers to agree on installation times, all
require high degrees of coordination and
planning work. Further factors that needed
careful planning included, among others,
organizing the recycling of the old, analog
meters.
Outcome
Results show that, at the end of Janu-
ary 2014, the average reading reliability
58
Landis+Gyr residential smart meter (E450)
in projects with PLAN+ and RF-mesh was
99,8 percent. Utilities provide hourly con-
sumption information to end-consumers
via internet portals (information is available
the following day). The end-consumers are
then able to gain awareness of their en-
ergy consumption patterns and habits, as
well as gain access to advice on energy ef-
ficiency.
Metering Service Manager Jari Rusanen
from energy company Loiste Sähköverkot
Oy talks about how their energy portal
has received “excellent feedback” from
their customers. In the portal, the end-
user can see their individual energy con-
sumption as well as savings they are mak-
ing. Customers are also happy with billing
which is today based on actual rather
than estimated consumption. Based on
this successful outcome, Rusanen says
that the energy company is “now plan-
ning on expanding smart metering to wa-
ter metering”.
The utilities see significant benefits from
the technology, including:
s Consumption based billing
s Better customer service due to exact
real-time information
s Remote meter readings and control of
power supply. For example, when an
end-customer moves house there is
no need for an on-site visit (customer
service personnel can read the final
consumption figure and then switch
off the power until a new contract for
the location is created). This leads to
significant savings; for example, in Ou-
lun Energia this saves 500 to 1000 site
visits per month.
s Power quality information: faster reac-
tion to failures, easier location of failu-
res in the network
s Utilities receive detailed information on
power cuts and their duration (Finnish
legislation states that end-consumers
must be compensated following long
power cuts).
Finnish energy company Oulun Energia
Siirto ja Jakelu is also pleased with results.
“The ability for the company to manage
meter readings remotely and switch off
power immediately after the customer
contract ends eliminates visits to between
500 and 1000 end-customers who move
house within any one month and leads
to great savings”, says Matti Lehto, Op-
erating Manager at Oulun Energia Siirto
ja Jakelu. Customer services can provide
better advice on energy efficiency due to
exact consumption information - Oulun
Energia has even been able to identify
failures in end-consumers’ electrical ap-
pliances in the home.
Jouni Lehtinen, Manager of Customer
Relationship Management at Helen Elec-
tricity Network, has experienced similar
results, stating that the technology “helps
to identify ‘power-hungry’ equipment”,
such as night time standby loads or a
sauna. Helen Electricity Network has been
able to create usage patterns for such de-
vices that enable them to not only save
energy and money, but to also reduce
their environmental footprint.
Mika Nousiainen, Metering Manager at
Helen Electricity Network, brings the pic-
ture together by describing the factors
that contributed to the milestone result:
“Landis+Gyr was able to provide a so-
lution that meets our needs, integrate
it into our existing IT environment and
carry out a turnkey project for 200,000
smart meters. That was not an easy
task, but we managed to do it on time
– thanks to the good cooperation with,
and expertise of the supplier.” Doubt-
less to say, these essential ingredients
have contributed to the country’s ability
to become one of the most advanced in
Europe in terms of its ability to meter
electricity consumption at the residential
level, while also helping to meet the EU’s
energy efficiency targets 
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

ANGEL SILOS
MEDIUM VOLTAGE PROTECTION AND FEEDER
AUTOMATION MANAGER AT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
The Smart Grid wraps
The Smart Grid can enhance the electrical network of the cities to achieve the new challenges.
Some applications from the Smart Grid can contribute in the optimization of the city enhancing
the distribution and reducing the outage time.
N
owadays the population of the
cities is growing day by day expo-
nentially, in fact the forecast for
2050 shows that the energy demand will
be the double in our cities. This situation
is due to the life duration and several ad-
vances in health but this trend has a critical
importance because the cities have to en-
sure energy to the citizens.
On the other hand we can find the cli-
mate change as an adversity so we will
fight against it reducing the CO2 emis-
sions. We need to change our centralized
mode with fossil fuels generation to a new
renewable and distributed model.
The five pillars of the Smart City.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
the city of the future
We have to remember that the cities are
important nodes which occupy the 2% of
the earth surface and inside of them the
50% of the world’s population lives. Be-
sides these nodes spend the 75% Energy
Consumption in the world and generate
the 80% CO2 emissions.
Although our best contribution to fight
against these changes will be reduce the
consumption and optimize the energy dis-
tribution. So we will be able to supply the
energy and reduce the CO2 emissions in
the city of the future.
In general terms we need to remember
that current energy sources in the world
SMART GRIDS
are decreasing, for this reason the man-
agement of the energy will focus in the
reduction of the consumption and the
optimization of the distribution. More-
over the cost of the Energy is increasing
day by day.
In order to help the city to get these goals
we can use different technological inno-
vations such as Smart Water, to control
the water, Smart Mobility focus in traffic
management, Smart Building to optimize
the consumption in the city, Smart Pub-
lic Services for street lighting… and the
Smart Energy which can help us to man-
age the distribution of the energy inside
59
SMART GRIDS
and among our cities. The figure 1 shows
the five pillars which can help to the Smart
City.
Smart Energy: the new
management of the Energy
The scope of the Smart Energy is very
wide; in fact this covers from the energy
distribution to the renewable integration,
the micro grids including the gas distribu-
tion management under the control of the
Smart Grid. The Smart Energy can help to
the management of the energy in our cit-
ies through of the Smart Grid concept.
In fact we can define the Smart Grid as
the brain to manage the energy distribu-
tion in the electrical network and also in
the city. Although it is not easy to define
the concept of Smart Grid due to it is an
evolution of the current network. How-
ever we can approach to it by analyzing
the various parts.
The Smart Grid is the application of In-
formation Technologies (IT) in the elec-
trical network. One century ago the
electrical network had a structure which
was based in a centralized generation in
Medium Voltage (MV), transport in High
Voltage (HV), distribution in MV and final
distribution in Low Voltage (LV). After this
period of time we can find some differ-
ences such as the Distributed Energy Re-
sources (DER), in fact in the current net-
work there is a lot of kind of renewable
energy in the electrical network. These
have been an important change in the
structure of the electrical network which
has modified the electrical flow; today we
can find a bidirectional flow. Besides in a
next future we will find the storage in the
grid; a new gate for the optimization of
the generation.
Moreover the network has suffered
during this long period other impor-
tant change: the communication inside.
Thanks to the IT the electrical network has
reached a new stage where the elements
can report information to high system and
between them. This last feature is impor-
tant because it marks the beginning of a
new stage where the automation in the
network is enhanced.
This scenario allows defining us the
Smart Grid as the vehicle to integrate cor-
rectly the new actors such as DER, the
electric car and the storage and also to
60
reach a more efficient network thanks to
new features in automation.
Although we have to take in account
that the Smart Grid is not only a solution
for the last explained actors, the Smart
Grid can help us to reach the new chal-
lenges for electrical sector such as: Self-
Supply, Flexible Tariff… However this new
challenges will generate new issues which
will fight against the stability of the net-
work. In this moment the Smart Grid will
defend the network with several tools
from IT. Examples of these adversities are
the stability, outages, integration, efficien-
cy of the market, reliability of the system,
environmental impact…
Smart Grid: the four tentacles of
the Smart Grid
As discussed previously the Smart Grid is
a mix of different new technologies appli-
cation but we can define it through four
parts. These tentacles integrate the solu-
tion to reach the new challenges and the
skills to fight against the new adversities.
In the figure 2 we can find the causes, the
challenges, the new issues and the parts
of the Smart Grid.
The first tentacle is Smart Network (SN)
which is the first evolution suffered by
the grid through the first communication
systems. Inside this part we can find the
Substation Automation (SA), Feeder Auto-
mation (FA) and protection systems. This is
the first step to implant the Smart Grid in
an electrical network.
After this first automation layer we can
find the tool to make a global control
of the energy: Smart Operation (SO).
This system can collect the status of the
switchgears of the networks so it can
manage the energy distribution. There is a
direct link between SN and SO due to the
second one works above the first one thus
we can find systems such as Distribution
Management System (DMS) which is the
core of this tentacle.
During last decade other tentacle has ap-
peared as a new concept inside Smart Grid,
the Smart Metering (SM). This has been a
recent incorporation into the electrical net-
work which has the mission to get the in-
formation of each point of the network in
real time so it will establish the relationship
between the Distribution System Operator
(DSO) and the final costumer. In this fea-
ture of the Smart Grid we will find tools
such as Meter Data Management (MDM)
which allow enhance the bill system and
to build a new market model where the
aggregators, intermediate operators, will
launch offers to the costumers.
The Smart Grid concept is completed
through Smart Generation (SG) which
contains the new concepts such as self-
supply, electric vehicle, storage… related
with the generation. Here we can find
the different tools to allow managing the
Demand Response. So Transport System
Operator (TSO) or DSO have to know the
generation in real time and even to foresee
the demand through other tools such as
Weather Information System (WIS). More-
over the SG includes the integration of the
electric vehicles as a kind of storage and
the self-supply as a solution to reduce the
transport of energy and enhance the ef-
ficiency in the network.
Self-Healing and Self-
Consumption: Two applications to
enhance the City
As discussed previously the Smart Grid can
enhance the electrical network of the cities
to achieve the new challenges. Despite this
concept is not focused directly in the city
we can find some derivates applications
from Smart Grid. Two examples of these
applications are the Self-Healing (SH) and
the Self-Consumption (SC). The first one
is included in SN, inside FA, and the second
one is inside in SG as mentioned above.
The availability of the network aims to
supply energy to the loads and to receive
energy from distributed generation. It is
not easy to maintain this condition due
to the configuration of this kind of city
is changing every day. For this reason it is
necessary to establish a good FA System
from HV/MV substations to MV/LV substa-
tions and also in LV. The FA can provide a
lot of solutions to establish a system with a
short time of regeneration. In fact the utili-
ties measures this time by System Average
Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI).
During years the cities has improved their
FA system using the network redundancy
and telecontrol so the SAIDI has reduced
dramatically to reach a time between 3
and 4 minutes approximately. This time
can be reduced considerably to get only a
time between 20 and 30 seconds.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

Causes, Challenges, Issues and Smart Solutions.
The Fault Locator and Isolation System
(FLISR) and the SH system can provide this
time reduction. The first skill of the net-
work can detect a fault by means of Fault
Passage Indicators (FPI), Intelligent Equip-
ment Device (IED) or other system which
can be report this information to high sys-
tem or to other local devices. During last
decades this kind of system has been re-
porting the detection of the fault to high
system but today we can find some appli-
cations where the information is reported
also to other devices. So the equipments
can know in real time the situation of the
network and immediately take the deci-
sion to isolate the system and reconfigure
this. This fact is the integration of the SH
in the network.
The FLISR combined with protocols such
as IEC61850 in 4G networks applied in
the IED or direct communication between
them can provide a fast recovery of the
system without the help of a high system.
When a fault appears the FPI, IED or other
devices in the network send the informa-
tion of the fault to high system and after
that this returns some order to the field de-
vices to reconfigure the network. If these
equipments send the information between
them the reaction time will be lower so the
intelligence will be distributed in the net-
work, likewise the high system will be con-
trolling the network as heretofore.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
Microgrid solution in Les Moulineaux, Issy Grid Project.
The SH system can be implanted easily in
an existing system because it is indepen-
dent of the high system; one communica-
tion channel of the equipments is used for
the communication between them and
the other for the high system such as DMS.
We can find two examples from Schnei-
der Electric of SH system. One of them is
located in the city of Rotterdam, in the
Netherlands, for the utility Stedin. The
other example has been a project locat-
ed between Grenoble and Lyon and was
called the Greenlys Project. It was an ex-
perimental project where this kind of au-
tomation was implanted where Schneider
and other entities have been collaborating.
Both FA project were defined above in a
real network with an independent DMS so
the IED was communicated between them
and with the control center.
The other application focused to reduce
the energy in the cities is the Self-Con-
sumption. Today the electrical network
has been integrating the DER in HV and
SMART GRIDS
MV grids and combining with the DMS to
reduce the consumption in rush hour. The
same situation happens in the city; the SC
in LV is a reality.
With the SC in the city we can reduce the
energy transport from outside. Besides we
can enhance the internal distribution due to
the loads are near to the generations. How-
ever we do not need to control this genera-
tion because is focused to cover the local
demand. Probably this implantation in a
city allows to think in a new market model
where the city hall can manage the energy
in the city and so to get a sustainable city.
So is the first step to define a Micro Grid.
Schneider Electric with other entities has
an example of SC; the Issy Grid Project.
This application is located in a district of
Paris, Les Moulineaux. The project was di-
vided in three stages: Measure, DER instal-
lation and Optimization. The first phase
was focused in measure the consumption
through SM, after this phase the photovol-
taic panels were installed in different build-
ings to supply internally the consumption
finally an internal optimization of the net-
work was developed to reduce the energy
distribution. A picture of the district Les
Moulineaux is showed in the figure 3.
These applications from the Smart Grid
can contribute in the optimization of the
city enhancing the distribution and reduc-
ing the outage time 
61
COMPANIES & ENERGIES IN SOUTH AFRICA

MIGUEL PÉREZ DE LEMA

South Africa continues to advance

its renewable energy program
South Africa continues to maintain the leading role among the major drivers of renewable energy.
The country has an urgent need to increase and improve its electricity supply to not weigh on
economic development. Late last year the expected third bidding round was held. Seventeen
preferred bidders were selected to implement major projects for wind, photovoltaics, biomass,
landfill-gas power bidder and concentrated solar power (CSP).

T
he South African economy, the biggest three coal-fired stations which will see the The first round was in November 2011,
in Africa and a top emerging market, country’s generation and transmission ca- the second round was in March 2012 and
is being held back badly by a crisis at pacity grow by 17,000 megawatts from the third round was delayed from August
the sclerotic state-owned electricity provider the current 40,000 MW. 2012 to August 2013.
Eskom. Recent economic growth has been South Africa is looking at expanding The combined allocation at the third
sluggish, falling to 1.9 percent forecast last nuclear energy production and venturing round was shared between seven onshore
year and from 3.5 percent in 2011. into shale gas. President Jacob Zuma wind energy bidders (787 MW), six solar
Power utility Eskom is un- announced that the govern- photovolatic (PV) projects (450 MW), a
der pressure to boost ment expects to “con- 16.5 MW biomass project, a 18 MW land-
capacity and rejuve- clude the procurement” fill-gas bidder and two concentrated solar
nate an ageing power of 9,600 MW of nucle- power (CSP) bidders (200 MW).
grid after electricity ar energy, but did not The Department of Energy (DoE) has told
shortages led to wide- say by when. another 17 renewable-energy developers
spread blackouts in that they have been appointed as preferred
2008. But it is struggling Third round bidders. This is after the conclusion of the
to meet deadlines. The South African renew- third bid-submission round under the Re-
The country is pro- able energy programme newable Energy Independent Power Pro-
moting all forms of has been bolstered ducer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP),
power generation. with $3billion USD of says an Engineering News report.
South Africa is work- clean energy projects The DoE confirmed that it had received
ing to avoid outages in the most recent 93 bid responses and that the projects rep-
to its growing energy round of the SA com- resented by the 17 preferred bidders had a
demand and to reduce petitive bidding process. collective installed capacity of 1 471.5 MW.
energy dependence on The South African Depart- The report says the appointments raise the
coal. The government ment of Energy identi- number of renewables developers to have
has proposed phas- fied in 2011 the tender prevailed under SA’s REIPPPP process to 64,
ing in renewables to for 3,725 MW from with 47 projects already at various stages
reach 30% in 2030. renewable energy of development. The government plans to
To meet this challenge sources. These 3,725 add 3 725MW of renewable energy capac-
has planned the con- MW spread over 1,850 ity by 2016 with five tenders.
struction of 18,000 MW MW of wind, 200 MW of
of renewable energy in the CSP, 1,450 MW of solar pho- Solar
next years. tovoltaic, biomass 12.5 MW, 12.5 MW of Global information company IHS has re-
Almost 90% of South Africa’s electricity biogas, 25 MW gas, 75 MW of mini hydro, leased an analysis which paints South Af-
is generated from coal, with nuclear and and 100 MW of other small renewable en- rica as the world’s most attractive emerg-
hydro providing 5% each and renewables ergy projects. ing country for solar energy, pointing to
just 1%. The power company has now This important tender was divided into the country’s target of 8.4 GW of solar
embarked on massive schemes to build five rounds, which have been delayed. PV capacity by 2030 combined with the

62 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

Gisela Bühl Bela Angelova Álvaro López Sonam Raina
gisela@energetica-international.com bela@energetica-international.com ala@energetica-international.com sonam.r@energetica-india.net
COMPANIES & ENERGIES IN SOUTH AFRICA
Abengoa’s Khi Solar One power
tower in South Africa represents
a milestone in many aspects
of CSP innovation. The 50MW
power tower project, owned by
Spanish developer Abengoa Solar
in conjunction with the Industrial
Development Corporation and the
Khi Community Trust, is a unique
structure rising from the barren
land at Upington, Northern Cape.
country’s successful large-scale tendering
process in moving towards that goal.
In IHS’s Emerging PV Markets Attractive-
ness Index, South Africa scored 66 out of
100 for the fourth quarter of 2013, 17
points ahead of any of the competitors.
The IHS Index ranks the attractiveness of
PV markets in emerging countries for in-
vestors, developers, and manufacturers
across four key areas: macroeconomic cli-
mate, potential market size, project profit-
ability and pipeline maturity. Thailand and
Turkey round out the top three, closely
followed by Romania and Mexico, all of
whom are receiving focus from investors
interested in their growing markets.
A consortium led by Spanish firm Aben-
goa has been chosen to build a second
100 MW concentrating solar power (CSP)
plant in the Northern Cape province, to
combine with a 100 MW solar thermal
plant already under construction to form
the largest solar energy complex in Africa.
The new parabolic trough solar plant,
Xina Solar One, would be located along-
side KaXu Solar One, with construction ex-
pected to start in 2014, and that the two
100 MW plants would “jointly shape the
largest solar complex in Africa”.
The preferred bidder PV projects from
round three of the REIPPP are the 75 MW
Adams solar PV 2; the 60 MW Tom Burke
solar park; the 75 MW Mulilo Sonnedix
Prieska project; the 75 MW Electra Capital
facility; the 75 MW Pulida solar park; and
75 MW Mulilo Prieska project.
Moreover, the Cobra Group (ACS) has
been chosen by the Ilangalethu consortium
64
ABENGOA
for construction, operation and mainte-
nance of a 100 MW solar thermal power
plant. Ilangalethu, in turn, was selected by
the South African Department of Energy.
The facility, with an investment of 550 mil-
lion euros is planned east of the town of
Upington in the Northern Cape region. The
works will reach more than 1,200 people
working with start in the summer of next
year. The CSP should go into commercial
operation in late 2016.
Cobra, consolidates in South Africa, which
already has two renewable energy projects
under construction. Both are photovoltaic
technology and have 75 MW each.
The two CSP projects awarded in round
three also showed price decreases to R1.46/
kWh. This is offset by a peak pricing pre-
mium such facilities will enjoy if they dis-
patch power during peak demand periods
in South Africa.
The 18 MW Johannesburg landfill waste
project will provide electricity at R0.84c/
kWh, while the 16 MW Mkuze biomass
project has an electricity price of R1.24/
kWh.
The financial closure for the project is
scheduled for 17 before July 30, 2014.
Wind
From just 10MW of installed wind capacity
at present, by the end of the year South
Africa should have over 600MW turning as
the first round of projects awarded under
the REIPPP come online. A further 563MW
awarded in the second round are under
construction, with another 787MW in the
pipeline from the third bidding round.
Local content promised by bidders in-
creased from an average of 21.7% in
round one to 46.9% in round three, and
job creation from 4,200 to more than
11,000, according to the Department of
Energy. The developers are also engaged in
various black-empowerment initiatives and
socio-economic development programmes
to ensure local communities benefit.
Before taking such major investment de-
cisions the industry needs clarity on the
local content requirement in future bid-
ding rounds and the size of the market.
In the latest update of its integrated re-
source plan, currently under public con-
sultation, the government proposes cut-
ting its 2030 wind target from 9.2GW
to 4.36GW in response to the economic
downturn. But it has said that it will con-
tinue the procurement programme, with
additional rounds of 1GW of wind annu-
ally up to the target.
On the wind sector the prices of the proj-
ects there have fallen from R1.14/kWh in
round one to R0.66c/kWh in round three.
he wind project preferred bidders are
the 110 MW Red Cap Gibson Bay project;
the 139 MW Longyuan Mulilo De Aar 2
North wind energy facility; the 87 MW
Nojoli wind farm; the 96 MW Longyuan
Mulilo De Aar Maanhaarberg project; the
138 MW Khobab wind farm; the 79 MW
Noupoort Mainstream project; and the Lo-
eriesfontein 2 wind farm.
The Spanish contribution
Spanish companies are present, as pro-
moters or installers, in about 25% of the
awarded in the first three rounds power.
This rate has fallen quite following the re-
sults of the last round, with only 200 MW
thermal achieved, as in the first two na-
tional companies were related to 35% of
future capacity installed.
Among the names associated with the
property or construction of renewable en-
ergy projects in South Africa other usual
big names such as Acciona, TSK, Sener,
Cobra (ACS), Iberdrola Engineering, Isolux
Corsán, Gestamp or allied among them-
selves or with local partners and / or ap-
pear international, as Sinovel. However,
other smaller companies, like Great Solar
or Amda Energy, have also found their
place among the renewable projects in
South Africa 
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
 COMPANIES & ENERGIES IN SOUTH AFRICA
ISOLUX CORSÁN: GROWING PRESENCE IN AFRICA
The international expansion strategy
developed in recent years has enabled
the Group to increase its presence in
Africa, where Isolux Corsán is currently
executing several major projects. The
Group and the South African Company
Basil Read Matomo (Pty) has signed its
ƬUVW FRQWUDFW LQ 6RXWK $IULFD IRU WKH
construction of a 60 MW solar power
plant in the city of Boshof, a substation
and facilities required for connection
to the 132 kV ESKOM network.
In Kenya, Isolux Corsán is building the
largest high voltage transmission line
in the country, and one of the largest
in Africa, with a voltage of 400 kV and a
length of 428 kilometres. The value of
this EPC contract, which the company
signed with Kenya Electricity Trans-
mission Company (Ketraco), is €142
million.
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
+34 91 449 30 00
info@isoluxcorsan.com
www.isoluxcorsan.com
In Algeria, the Group built the Oran tra-
mway, an urban railway infrastructure
covering 18.7 kilometres of double
track and 32 stations with a capacity
to transport 90,000 passengers per
day with a budget of €355 million. The
Group is also currently building the
ƬUVW OLQH RI 0RVWDJDQHP 7UDPZD\ ,Q
this country, the Group is executing
various projects such as the Draria
hospital in Algiers, with 240 beds, the
new Mohammadia sewage treatment
plant, the Khenchela substation, the
water transport for the Mostaganem
desalination plant, the El Bayad water
treatment plant and water transport
for the Mactaa treatment plant. Also
in this country, the company is building
the headquarters of the Ministry of Re-
OLJLRXV$ƪDLUVDQGWKH%LU0RXUDG5DLV
intermodal station.
Tranvía de Orán.
Viaductu Hai Sabah.
In Angola, the Group has implemented
various energy projects such as the
0:ƮRDWLQJSRZHUSODQWLQ/XDQ
da, the Futila Thermal Power Plant and
WKH ƬUVW  N9 WUDQVPLVVLRQ OLQH WKDW
carries the electricity produced by the
&DSDQGD'DPWRWKHFDSLWDO/XDQGD
/DVWO\,VROX[&RUV¼QKDVEHHQDZDUGHG
four new contracts for T&D projects in
Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and the DR
Congo, for a total of €86 million, which
consolidates its activities in the area
and increase the number of projects
that the Group executes in this strate-
gic continent.
With these new markets, Isolux Corsán
stably operates in 13 African countries:
Angola, Algeria, Congo, Gabon, Kenya,
Morocco, Mauritania, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Rwanda, Senegal, South Afri-
ca and Uganda.
65
 COMPANIES & ENERGIES IN SOUTH AFRICA

+34 961 366 557

salesza@power-electronics.com
www.power-electronics.com

POWER ELECTRONICS SUCCESS IN SOUTH AFRICA’S

RENEWABLE ENERGY RACE

After two very active years, Power Electronics South Africa has successfully
achieved its goals in South Africa’s market by participating in key CSP projects

Power Electronics is a Spanish multi-
national company which specializes in
the manufacturing of solar inverters,
low and medium voltage variable spe-
ed drives and soft starters, with more
than 25 years experience in the sector
and a global presence in more than 30
countries across the globe. The South
African branch has been active since
2012 and within two years has obtai-
ned utility scale renewable projects
both for CSP plants and photovoltaic
plant. Power Electronics has brought
to South African partners its glo-
bal Power ON SUPPORT philosophy
which consists in a 24/7 Hotline and
on-site assistance all over the country,
technical personnel and strategically
stored spare parts, 3 and 5 years gua-
rantees in the Industrial and PV Sec-
tors respectively, and Engineering as-
sistance for customer made solutions.
7KLV WUDQVODWHV LQWR SXUH EHQHƬWV RQ
behalf of the customer from their Hi-
Tec products, great performance and
Power ON SUPPORT Program.
Within the Concentrated Solar Power
sector, the key players have relied
in XMV660 and SD700, medium vol-
tage and low voltage drives respec-
tively. Both are very well positioned
in the market due to its rugged and
reliable design that offers high avai-
lability, high operation temperatures
and outstanding motor performance.
Within the Solar Photovoltaic Sector,
our Outdoor and Indoor High utility
scale products Freesun HE and HEC
are the most attractive by means of
its modular & redundant design that
generates higher yields.
Power Electronics is not only focu-
sing on the incredible growth of
Renewable sector, but also placing
capital importance in the industrial
sector (mining, oil and gas, HVAC,
water treatment, etc.) in which the
company has extensive experience
worldwide and expects steady grow
to reinforce its local presence across
the country.

66 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

 CSP

JENNIFER MUIRHEAD
ANALYST AT CSP TODAY

Gauging the South African CSP landscape to 2024

South Africa is one of the most promising emerging markets for Concentrated Solar Power
(CSP). It has abundant solar resources, a strong need to develop a new source of energy and a
robust incentive scheme from the Government. So what is the latest from this market and what
can we expect from 2014 onwards?

How suitable is South Africa for CSP? for CSP. The annual electricity demand of
With DNI levels exceeding 2,900kWh/ the country is expected to increase from
m2 per year (compared to Spain’s 2,100 240.5 TWh to 375 TWh in less than a
kWh/m2/a) and large, flat landscapes, decade. Already troubled by electricity
South Africa has the ideal solar resources price hikes and black-outs, it is clear that
South Africa experiences two distinct peaks.
Source: Eskom 2013 (for more details please see CSP vs. PV in South Africa – meeting the demand curve).
TABLE 1: OVERVIEW OF BIDDING WINDOWS
Window 1 Window 2 Window 3
Year 2011 2012
MW allocation 150 50
Local content requirement (without storage) 21% 35%
South Africa, which relies upon coal for
85.5% of its electricity generation, needs
to find a new source of energy. Having
an economy that depends heavily on the
energy-intensive mining industry, South
Africa’s market is craving increased en-
ergy production. Despite the large coal
deposits, the increasing demand for en-
ergy is hampered by the fact South Africa
ultimately has limited reserves in oil and
natural gas. At the moment, the country
relies on electricity production by State-
owned Eskom, a company that has a
95% monopoly of the electricity market
(CSP Today Markets Report, 2014).
CSP is particularly suited for the mar-
ket in South Africa because of its ability
to store energy for release after daylight
hours, unlike PV and other renewable
energy sources. South Africa has an eve-
ning peak in the winter which spikes sig-
nificantly between the hours of 16:30 and
21:30 meaning that stored energy can be
2013
released at this time, despite the absence
200 of solar resources.
45%

Local content requirement (with storage) 21% 25% 40% What is the current status of CSP
in South Africa?
Source: CSP Today Quarterly Update, March 2014.
The South African Department of Energy
TABLE 2: SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS IN WINDOWS 1-3 has developed an evolving policy to sup-
Project Name Developer MW Capacity Technology Storage (hours) Current Status Window port the growth of renewable energy
Xina Solar Parabolic in the country. This came in the form of
Abengoa 100 5 Development 3
One Trough the Renewable Energy Independent
Parabolic Power Producer Procurement Programme
Ilanga Emvelo 100 TBC Development 3
Trough
ACWA Parabolic
(REIPPPP), which aims to see 3,725MW
Bokpoort 50 9 Construction 2
Solafrica Trough being produced from renewable energy.
Abengoa The REIPPPP forms part of the Integrated
Industrial
Khi Solar Resource Plan (IRP), a roadmap for the im-
Development 50 Tower 2 Construction 1
One
Corporation
(IDC)
plementation of energy projects over the
KaXu Solar Abengoa Parabolic next twenty years aimed at ensuring South
100 2.5 Construction 1
One IDC Trough Africa meets its forecasted electricity de-
Source: CSP Today Global Tracker, February 2014. mand at the best possible cost.

energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14 67

CSP
TABLE 3: WINDOW 3.5. (CSP SPECIFIC) KEY DATES
Bid registration date
Third (CSP) Bid Submission Date
Announcement of Preferred Bidders in respect of Third
(CSP) Bid Submission Date
Signing and effective date of PPAs, Direct Agreements,
Implementation Agreements and Connection Agreements
and Financial Close not later than
Source: South African Department of Energy, 2014
TABLE 4: WINDOW 4 KEY DATES
Bid registration date
Fourth Bid Submission Date
Announcement of Preferred Bidders in respect of Fourth Bid
Submission Date
Signing and effective date of PPAs, Direct Agreements,
Implementation Agreements and Connection
Agreements and Financial Close not later than
Source: South African Department of Energy, 2014
The REIPPPP takes place according to set
‘windows’. Currently three windows have
already occurred which have seen alloca-
tions made to CSP, as seen in tables 1 and 2.
Outside of the three windows, Eskom
is currently developing a 100 MW tower
project.
Upcoming windows
As discussed in detail in the March 2014
edition of the CSP Today Quarterly Update,
there are two upcoming bidding windows
that may impact CSP project pipelines. Al-
though no specific allocations have been
officially announced, it is hoped that both
rounds will see at least 200 MW allocated
to CSP. Bidder registration for window 3.5
is currently open and will close on 3 March
2014.
The bidding windows have attracted
top international players and are becom-
ing increasingly competitive, with industry
Installed CSP capacity in South Africa until 2024 (MW). Source: CSP Today Market’s Report, 2014.
68
3 March 2014
31 March 2014
10 June 2014
20 February 2015
21 July 2014
18 August 2014
28 October 2014
9 July 2015
insiders highlighting that the March 2014
window is already oversubscribed.
The need to increase the CSP
allocation in South Africa
Initially, a cap of 1,200 MW for CSP by
2030 was outlined in the IRP. This limita-
tion was flagged in a previous CSP Today
Markets Report (2012) as a major barrier
against the future development of CSP in
South Africa.
However, the IRP 2010-2030 Update
Report 2013, published in November last
year, has advocated increasing this value to
3,300 MW.
The increased allocation will have signifi-
cant knock-on effects for the CSP industry
if it is accepted. Ultimately, increasing the
allocation is expected enable cost reduc-
tion (primarily through economies of scale)
and promotes the development of local
production, thus also helping develop-
ers fulfil increasing local content require-
ments. As seen in Table 1, while the first
window placed a local content stipulation
of 21% on CSP projects, this was raised to
35% in the second window for no-storage
CSP and 25% for CSP with storage. For
the third window, this has been raised
to 45% and 40% respectively. Currently,
with a cap of 1,200 MW by 2030, and
with only a few CSP plants underway, de-
veloping a local supportive infrastructure
may not be a sustainable endeavour.
Comments on the Draft Update closed
on 7 February this year and we can expect
feedback by March 2014.
The full Draft Update is available on this
link: http://www.doe-irp.co.za/content/
IRP2010_updatea.pdf
CSP with storage: the way
forward in South Africa
The Time of Day Tariff
As mentioned previously, South Africa has
a distinct evening peak. In mid-2013 the
South African Government announced a
two-tier tariff for CSP projects with and
without storage. As discussed fully in the
December 2013 CSP Today Quarterly Up-
date, the new tariff will encourage storage
by incentivising developers to supply elec-
tricity to meet the evening peak.
Successful CSP projects in the third win-
dow will have a base tariff of R165/kWh
with a higher tariff (270% of the base
tariff) applied for supplying energy during
peak time, and no payment for supplying
energy beyond the peak time at night .
Peak time in South Africa is defined as be-
tween 16:30 and 21:30
In addition to the TOD tariff, the Depart-
ment of Energy has also relaxed local con-
tent requirements for CSP projects with
storage (see Table 1).
South Africa: longer term outlook
Currently the country has 200 MW of CSP
projects in construction with a further 200
MW due to break ground in either 2014
or 2015. The 2014 CSP Today Markets Re-
port has ranked South Africa as the most
promising market for CSP within the next
ten years, coming ahead of markets such as
Saudi Arabia, Morocco, the USA and Chile.
Whilst South Africa may not have the
same large CSP targets as markets such as
Saudi Arabia (which is aiming to develop
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

to develop 25 GW of CSP by 2032), there
is already definite movement in the market
with more immediate results. In the 2014
Markets Forecast, CSP Today estimated
that in a conservative scenario South Af-
rica is likely to have over 2GW of CSP in
operation within the next ten years.
Is it all rosy for CSP South Africa?
CSP in South Africa has made significant
progress over the past couple of years. Al-
though CSP targets have not been as ro-
bust as other markets, the follow through
has been there to help support and foster
the growth of CSP in the country. This is
seen specifically in the tailored TOD Tariff
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
CSP is particularly
suited for the market in
South Africa because
of its ability to store
energy for release after
daylight hours
and the proposed increased allocation for
CSP in the IRP Draft Update.
In short, the South African Government
is taking CSP seriously.
This is not to say that South Africa is a
market without challenges –there are
CSP
SolarGIS © 2014 GeoModel Solar
many. There is the weakening Rand, pre-
vious delays in financial close and bidding
windows, and ultimately uncertainties re-
garding the future roll out of government-
backed CSP projects. Whilst the latest revi-
sion to the IRP holds great promise for CSP
in the country, the reality is that there is a
chance that they increased allocation will
not be accepted. And even if it is, there
is nothing stopping a further amendment
down the line as the Government learns
which energy sources are best adapted to
meet local market needs.
However, despite the potential challenges
and uncertainties, South Africa remains a
market of great promise which is attracting
leading international CSP developers 
69
ENERGY STORAGE
MICHAEL LIPPERT
SAFT ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
Energy storage smoothes
grid integration for renewable resources
To meet the specific needs of renewable energy storage systems (ESS) projects, Saft has developed the
Intensium Max 20 as a ready-to-install, megawatt scale, fully integrated containerized Li-ion solution.
T
he ever increasing penetration of
intermittent distributed energy re-
sources such as photovoltaic (PV)
plant and wind turbines present signifi-
cant challenges in maintaining the stability
of distribution grids designed originally to
handle large scale, centralized generation.
Megawatt scale energy storage systems
(ESS) are now being deployed on a com-
mercial basis to address these challenges by
storing and dispatching energy to smooth
peak demand, compensate for intermit-
tent production and provide vital auxiliary
functions, such as frequency and voltage
control.
In many cases, ESS offer mutual benefits
across a range of applications. For example,
sustainable development can be boosted by
increasing the share of renewables in the
overall energy mix, making regions (espe-
cially islands) independent of fossil fuel re-
sources and reducing CO2 emissions. In the
smart grid realm, it is possible to reduce the
number of grid interruptions/blackouts and
to optimize the cost of electricity infrastruc-
ture, particularly in deferring the need for
costly upgrades.
Currently, the main markets for ESS proj-
ects are islanded rather than interconnect-
ed grids. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery tech-
nology has been shown to be ideally suited
to these applications due to its versatility in
energy to power ratio, high energy density,
proven performance and the ability to be
scaled to meet a wide range of power and
energy needs.
Intensium Max containerized Li-ion
battery system
To meet the specific needs of renewable
ESS projects, Saft has developed the Inten-
sium Max 20 as a ready-to-install, mega-
70
watt scale, fully integrated containerized
Li-ion solution. With a typical capability to
provide 560 kWh of energy storage and 1
MW power, Intensium Max is delivered in
a standardized 20-foot container for ease
of transportation and installation and in-
tegrates the communications interface,
battery management and cooling and fire
prevention systems. Saft’s well proven Li-ion
technology ensures long calendar and cycle
life for the system, with an expected oper-
ating life of at least 15 years.
Supporting grid stability in Gran Canaria
The Spanish island of Gran Canaria is
home to an Intensium Max 20 system rated
at 1 MW power and with an energy storage
capacity of 3 MWh, supplied as part of the
STORE (Storage Technologies of Reliable
Energy) project to demonstrate how energy
storage can maximize the integration of re-
newable energy within utility networks and
optimize the grid infrastructure.
A high priority for Endesa when specifying
the ESS was to address the problems inher-
ent in the isolated network and reduce the
need to upgrade the grid infrastructure,
which is both expensive and difficult to
carry out in remote locations.
The Intensium Max is being used for sub-
station peak shaving to minimize the use of
diesel generators as well as for wind and PV
ramp control and grid frequency and volt-
age control.
Preparing Hawaii’s grid to accept
more renewable energy
Two Intensium Max units supplied by Saft
in 2012 are in operation on Hawaii’s Big
Island, where PV plant operator HELCO
(Hawaii Electric Light Company) is using
them to smooth PV production, reduce the
impact of renewable energy curtailments
and provide ancillary services such as spin-
ning reserves. Each Intensium Max 20E sys-
tem has the capacity to store 248 kWh of
energy and is coupled to a 100 kW power
conversion system.
The first installation is in operation time-
shifting PV power production from the
morning to support the high afternoon
loads created by the use of air-conditioning
systems. The second installation is in place
at a bottling plant, where it has improved
the quality of power supplying the facility’s
drives and equipment, boosting production
with high quality and reliable power.
Harnessing the power of the wind
On the Canadian plains, the First Nation
government of the Cowessess people is
making use of a Saft’s Intensium Max 20E
ESS. There are excellent wind resources in
Saskatchewan, but the leaders of Cowes-
sess First Nation (CFN) wanted more pre-
dictability.
The 1 MWh capacity ESS was installed in
conjunction with an 800 kW wind turbine
and is now allowing CFN to decrease the
volatility of the power it generates by up to
70 percent.
Li-ion ESS technology - now a
practical commercial proposition
Now that the technology is established,
the size of Li-ion ESS installations is grow-
ing. Li-ion ESS has made the transition from
trial projects to fully commercialized instal-
lations. Whether the aim is increased grid
stability, the desire to sell the maximum
energy to the grid or wishing to delay in-
frastructure investment, the experience and
technology is now available to tailor the
ideal solution to match renewable energy
supply and demand 
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14

GILDEMEISTER energy solutions
Generate, store and utilise renewable
Not only private households can use solar electricity – it is even more interesting for industrial
companies. All it takes are a photovoltaic installation and an intelligent storage system that
can deliver electricity on demand to the various consumers. A German machine construction
company shows how industrial usage of renewable energy can easily be integrated and save
money at the same time.
L
ast year Stefan Roßkopf, the Ma-
naging Director of the company
made a decision: Teamtechnik set
an example with its own E-mobility-pro-
ject. The ambitious Swabian installed a
photovoltaic system, a storage system and
e-charging points. Two independent char-
ging points provide the small e-smart fleet
with electricity while the surplus is used for
the production or fed into the public grid.
“Companies with a high expertise in
technology, as we are, need to promote
the implementation of energy transition”,
says Roßkopf. However, climate protec-
tion was not the only motivation for this
project. The new project allows them to
promote the companies’ strength in inno-
vation when combining photovoltaic with
e-mobility.
The success of the energy transition is
linked to two conditions: solar and wind
energy are, dependent on weather condi-
tions, only available on an irregular basis.
For green electricity to be calculable and
competitive, public grids will have to be ex-
panded and more storage systems need to
be installed. E-Mobility could push the exit
from nuclear and fossil-fuel energy even
further. Electric cars could be powered
with surplus electricity from renewable
energy sources and, therefore, function as
storage systems to balance fluctuations.
Therefore, they become an important part
of the intelligent electricity grid.
Yet the smart grid is still in a developing
status. Teamtechnik shows how renewable
energy technologies, storage systems and
e-cars interact with each other.
The initial question for Teamtechnik was,
how a charging station for the smart-e
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
CellCube storage system.
fl eet can be realised without electricity
supply from the public grid. 10 to 15 e-
cars will be fueled regularly, also the staffs´
private e-cars. And one thing was clear:
As a supplier for the photovoltaic industry,
Teamtechnik would definitely focus on fuel
from solar system for its e-fleet. Therefore
the company installed 347 multicristalline
modules on its factory buildings with a
total power of 86.75 Kilowatt. To ensure
that charging is available anytime, even if
it´s cloudy or during the night, the compa-
ny installed an intelligent storage system.
Gildemeister energy solutions provided
the Vanadium-Redox-Flow Storage System
CellCube FB 20-100 as a plug and play
solution. The high performance storage
battery has the size of a construction trail-
er, has a power of 20 KW and can store
100 kWh– ten times more than a private
household storage system.
The installed energy system distributes
the energy coming from the rooftop instal-
lation according to pre-defined priorities.
First, the two charging points are supplied
with electricity. Second priority is given to
the CellCube, which has a capacity of 100
kwh and takes 5 hours to be charged. If
the CellCube is fully charged, the solar sys-
tem supplies the Teamtechnik production
site. During production-free days the sur-
ENERGY STORAGE
energy locally
pluses run into the public grid and can be
refunded according to the EEG (German
Renewable Energy Act). If the photovoltaic
installation does not produce any power,
the CellCube provides electricity.
There are several reasons why Team-
technik decided to choose the Vanadium-
Redox-Flow technology: Flow batteries can
store huge amounts of energy at a relatively
low price. Unlike the conventional batter-
ies or Lithium-Ion-Batteries, the CellCube
separates storage and power supply, which
makes it 100% secure. The storage system
is deep dischargeable and does not burn or
explode. Energy is stored in two indepen-
dent tanks that can be adjusted according
to energy requirements. While charging
and discharging, the electrolyte is pumped
through the cells. „The electrolyte does not
wear off and can be further processed af-
ter usage,” explains Schauss. Gildemeister
energy solutions states the durability of the
CellCube with more than 20 years.
In addition to its usefulness and ef-
ficiency, the Cellcube can be installed
easily, despite the technical complexity.
Gildemeister energy solutions delivers a
turn-key storage system, it only has to be
connected to the photovoltaic installations
inverter as well as to the loading station
and the public grid.
The smooth project realisation and the
first impression of this energy system after
a few weeks of operation time have also
convinced Teamtechnik Manager Stefan
Roßkopf. “We´re going to study this for a
few months and will possibly extend the
CellCube – as the power and capacity is
flexible and scalable even after installa-
tion.” 
71
ENERGY STORAGE

SINDIA CASADO, GABRIEL GARCÍA, MIKEL

SANTAMARÍA, RAQUEL GARDE, MÓNICA AGUADO
CENER (NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY
CENTRE OF SPAIN)

VRLA1 batteries operation in ATENEA microgrid CENER

The Renewable Energy Grid Integration Department in CENER has designed, installed and developed
a microgrid (ATENEA). It consists of AC architecture with power generation of more than 100 kW,
conventional and renewables. The facility can supply part of the Wind Turbine Test Laboratory, electric
loads, the microgrid building and the Rocaforte industrial area lighting. Energy storage systems (ESSs)
are essential to ensure the stable and efficient operation of the renewable energies based in microgrids.

R
enewable energies development
marks the transition to a more effi-
cient, reliable, safe and environmen-
tally friendly energy model. It is based on a
distributed generation with a better use of
local resources and a consumer approach to
generation. This new model allows a more
active participation in the energy system.
Microgrids are one of the distributed
generation systems that have great poten-
tial applications in isolated, rural electrifi-
cation, remote communities, telecommu-
nications, etc. Microgrids are plants that
consist of conventional and renewable
generation, energy storage systems, loads
of different nature (residential, industrial,
electric vehicles…) and intelligent energy
management control in real time.
The Renewable Energy Grid Integration
Department in CENER has designed, in-
stalled and developed a microgrid (ATENEA)
located at the industrial estate of Rocaforte
(Town of Sangüesa, Navarre, Spain). AT-
ENEA Microgrid is aimed at industrial ap-
plication. It consists of AC architecture with
power generation of more than 100 kW,
conventional and renewables. The facility
can supply part of the Wind Turbine Test
Laboratory, electric loads, the microgrid
building and the Rocaforte industrial area
lighting. Energy storage systems (ESSs) are
essential to ensure the stable and efficient
operation of the renewable energies based
in microgrids. [1] [2]
Objective
The flexible control of ESSs in microgrids
could provide various auxiliary functions to
1. Valve Regulated Lead Acid
support the operation of the installations
such as enhancing local distribution sys-
tem reliability, reducing feeder loss, sup-
porting local voltage, acting as an uninter-
ruptible power supply as well as ensuring
a reliable power supply.
The main objective of this paper is to
show the operation of the real pilot plant
under the energy management strategy
implemented in the ATENEA microgrid
control and based on the VRLA battery
performance, as part of the ESSs available
in the microgrid.
Results
Two tests have been developed in the mi-
crogrid. The first operates ATENEA in on-
grid mode and the second, operates it in
off-grid mode where the VRLA batteries
are the grid forming unit. That means, it
defines the operation set points related to
frequency and voltage.
On-grid mode
In on-grid mode, the ESSs converters may
run in PQ control mode (current control
mode to output or input certain active/reac-
tive power). Hence, the main grid is the re-
sponsible of setting up the voltage and fre-
quency to the different systems in ATENEA
microgrid. The microgrid central controller
provides the management of the microgrid
sending the active and reactive power refer-
ences to the different systems.
The control system is the responsible for
satisfying the electrical demand. The op-
eration of ESSs can be optimized through
proper charging and discharging. If the
generation is lower than the electric de-
mand during a large period of time the ESS
could discharge so deep. Hence, in order to
support the ESS operation in isolated mode,
two different limits are established: security
and lower State Of Charge (SOC) limit.
Figures 1 shows the ATENEA microgrid
real behaviour when it operates connected
to the grid. The real demonstration con-
sists of a 25 kWp photovoltaic generation
unit, 50 kW / 100 kWh lead-acid batteries
and loads (part of Wind Turbine Test Labo-
ratory and the microgrid building).
In the graphs, the power for the battery
is negative when charging (absorbing en-
ergy) and positive when discharging (feed-
ing energy). The duration of the test takes
two days, as it can be seen in the photo-
voltaic generation profile.
As it can be observed, when the renew-
able generation (light green) is higher than
the loads consumption, the VRLA batter-
ies (dark blue) absorb this excess of energy
as long as this ESS is discharged enough.
The energy is sent to the public grid (black)
when all or part of this excess of energy
cannot be absorbed by the VRLA batteries.
However, when the photovoltaic genera-
tion is lower than the loads, the lack of en-
ergy is covered by the VRLA batteries if they
are within the appropriate SOC levels. Oth-
erwise, the public grid will feed the loads.
Consequently, the on-grid mode goal is
covering the load consumption from the
microgrid elements and avoiding as far as
possible the consumption from the main
grid. As it is shown in figure 1, the power
exchanged with the grid is negligible most
of the time during the demonstration.
Off-grid mode
In off-grid operation mode, ATENEA mi-
crogrid adopts a Master-Slave control.

72 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14


Figure 1. On-grid operation ATENEA microgrid.
Figure 2. Off-grid operation ATENEA microgrid.
One of the ESSs converters (Master) is
controlled in V/f mode to set up and main-
tain system voltage and frequency to the
different elements (Slaves) that adopt PQ
control. Moreover, the ESS has to offset
generation and consumption unbalancing.
Figure 2 illustrates the ATENEA microgrid
real behaviour when it operates isolated
from the grid. The real demonstration con-
sists of a 25 kWp photovoltaic generation
unit, 50 kW / 100 kWh lead-acid batteries
and loads (Part of Wind Turbine Test Labo-
ratory and the microgrid building).
In the same way, the power for the bat-
tery is negative when charging (absorbing
energy) and positive when discharging
(feeding energy). In this case, the test runs
during nine hours, which cover most of PV
generating hours.
As it can be observed, when the renew-
able generation (light green) is higher than
the loads consumption, the VRLA batter-
ies (dark blue) absorb this excess of energy
again. The VRLA batteries have a security
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
ENERGY STORAGE
charging SOC limit in order to avoid that
this ESS cannot perform the grid stabilizing
functions. In case the ESS reaches this lim-
it, the renewable system will be limited or
even stopped. On the contrary, when the
photovoltaic generation is lower than the
loads, the lack of energy is covered by the
VRLA batteries. The VRLA batteries have a
security discharging SOC limit. In case the
ESS reaches this limit, the diesel generator
will be started.
At this point, the diesel genset runs at
nominal power where it gets the highest ef-
ficiency. That way, the energy which is not
consumed by the loads is stored in the ESS.
Once a certain SOC limit is reached for the
batteries, the diesel genset stops and the
original control strategy is resumed.
Conclusions
In short, it can be concluded that:
s ATENEA Microgrid can be used as a
test bench for real systems and it can
operate in on and off-grid mode.
s Different energy management stra-
tegies can be implemented and the
systems are able to follow the control
commands.
s Power management through storage
systems that allow the adjustment of ge-
neration and demand profiles is crucial.
s The energy storage systems, VRLA in
particular, act as a grid forming unit
when the facility works in off-grid
mode.
s System response capacity is well suited
to the operation of real systems.
s The testing results show that under
support of ESSs, renewable energy
based on ATENEA microgrid is a pro-
mising utilization pattern of renewable
energy 
References
1. ‘Energy Storage control in renewable energy based
Microgrid’. Xisteng Tang, Zhiping Qi, Member IEEE
(2012).
2. ‘Advances and trends of energy storage technology in
Microgrid’. Xingguo Tan, Quingmin Li, Hui Wang. Elec-
trical Power and energy Systems 44 (2013) 179-191.
73
HYDROGEN & FUEL CELL

PEDRO CASERO, FRANCISCO GARCÍA PEÑA

Y PILAR COCA
R&D DEPARTMENT AT ELCOGAS

Hydrogen production cost from coal and

biomass co-gasification in Elcogas IGCC power plant
Hydrogen is envisaged as an alternative fuel in the near future through its use in a fuel cell
electric vehicle (FCEV), where it combines with oxygen from the air to create electricity via an
electrochemical process. In 2015 the first series-produced FCEVs will hit the road. In a first
stage, availability of hydrogen fuel seems to be more relevant than its competitiveness and
sustainability, though in the long-term these two features will be dominant.

H
ydrogen can be produced through
diverse pathways, being the most
established natural gas reforming,
coal gasification and electrolysis. The cost
of production depends significantly on
the cost of the fuel used, the efficiency
of the process and the scale of produc-
tion (central or distributed). Currently the
cheapest ways to produce electricity are
centralised natural gas reforming and coal
gasification, being coal more competitive
when differential price with natural gas is
greater than 2.84 $/GJ (EPRI, 20121). As
an example in US, where fuel costs are of
such order, the H2 production cost using
natural gas reforming is 1.03 $/kg, and
0.96 $/kg when using coal gasification
(EPRI, 20121). When using electrolysis, the
cost presents a great variability depending
on the primary source of electricity (wind,
solar, nuclear, mix of technologies…) and
references show values in the range of
1.50 to 7 €/kg.
This article presents a real case of produc-
ing H2 from coal gasification. This is being
done at the Elcogas’ Puertollano IGCC 330
MW Demonstration Plant by means of an
industrial-scale pilot plant (figure 1) com-
missioned in 2010 and able to produce 2
tonnes per day of 99.99% purity hydro-
gen at 15 bar and 40ºC, equivalent to
0.4% of the total coal gas produced in the
IGCC Plant. This pilot plant uses proven
and commercial technology: a CO to CO2
conversion unit using a water-gas-shift
process, a CO2/H2 separation unit through
chemical absorption, and finally a PSA unit
for hydrogen purification. This facility rep-
resents relevant singularities: it is the sec-
Elcogas CO2 capture and H2 production pilot plant.
ond biggest IGCC Plant in the world, the
only one in operation in Europe, and the
only one integrating a CO2 capture and H2
purification unit of a relevant size.
These features make Elcogas’ facility ex-
cellent for developing realistic economic
estimates of different scenarios, like elec-
tricity and H2 co-production. These two
products are linked through the penalty
in power production happening in the
plant when the H2 unit is in operation,
and therefore the price of electricity (ei-
ther at market conditions or marginal)
provides the equivalent price of hydrogen.
. If considering an electricity market price
of 44.30 €/MWh (the average in Spanish
market during 2013), the equivalent sell-
ing price for H2 obtained is 1.30 €/kg. This
cost reduces down to 0.61 €/kg if the mar-
ginal price of electricity is used (which was
21.20 €/MWh for Elcogas in 2013).
Are these prices competitive if the final
destiny of the H2 is to be used in FCEVs? To
answer this question, the conditioning of
the H2 produced has to be added, consist-
ing of compression, storage and dispens-
ing (CSD) stages. The case study proposed
is of centralized production, supposing
that a H2 station of 100 kg/d is built close
to the IGCC Plant, therefore no transport
is required. Several references estimate
that CSD process adds 3-4 €/kg (source:
NREL2), therefore a final value in the range
of 4.60 and 5.30 €/kg is obtained for the
H2 ready to be pumped into a FCEV.
Which is the selling price in currently op-
erating H2 stations? There are around 50
operative hydrogen stations in Europe3
(3 of them in Spain). There is not easy ac-
cess to the selling price since some or not
public and in any case local demand and
other particularities affect such price mak-
ing it quite heterogeneous. Assuming a
conservative range of 8 to 15 €/kg for this
price, the H2 produced in the case study
proposed can be rated as competitive.
Regarding availability, the H2 station pro-
posed could fill around 20 FCEV per day,
more than enough in the current picture,
and if required this capacity could be up-
graded easily up to the total capacity of
the pilot (2000 t/d) with additional CSD
modules.
Finally, sustainability comes from two
sources. During H2 production, CO2 is cap-
tured and could be eventually stored un-
derground. And on the other hand IGCC
process easily allows the partial substitu-
tion of fossil fuel by biomass up to 30%
(based on real experiences at Elcogas) 
References
1 Gasification Users Association: Technology status -
December 2012. EPRI. http://www.epri.com
2 NREL. http://www.nrel.gov/
3 http://www.netinform.net/H2/H2Stations/H2Stations.as
px?Continent=EU&StationID=-1#.

74 energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14


CARLOS MERINO
NATIONAL HYDROGEN CENTRE (CNH2)
PUERTOLLANO-SPAIN
Hydrogen storage for smart grids
Hydrogen storage systems allow working in with different types of energy sources dispatching
such as intermittent, peaking, loading following and base load.
I
ntegration of renewable energy sources
into the actual energy system depends
on an optimal coordination of the fluc-
tuating and intermittent renewable energy
production with the rest of the energy sys-
tem. Regarding to electricity production,
addressing this challenge is especially es-
sential since electricity systems count on an
exact balance between demand and supply
at any time. The need for change in the
current electricity grid and power design
and operation, in order to foster renewable
energies integration, has been recognized
and discussed for several years.
In recent years, the discussion has been
related to the smart grid concept by dif-
ferent experts, many of them argue for
the requirement for smart grids in order to
facilitate a better integration of fluctuat-
ing renewable energy. A typical smart grid
consists of a bi-directional power flow, i.e.
the consumers are also producing to the
grid, which differs from the traditional grid
in which there is a clear separation be-
tween producers on the one side and con-
sumers on the other side, resulting in an
uni-directional power flow. Consequently,
former concepts, such as regulation hier-
archies, distributed generation, vehicle to
grid (V2G) as well as many microgrids all
become smart grids or part of the smart
grid concepts.
The result of managing smart grids is the
contribution to the safety, efficiency and
reliability of the power supply, sustainabil-
ity and competitiveness. The main benefit
of the smart grids is the possibility of a
better integration of renewable energies
and distributed generation in the whole
electrical power system and the ability for
reducing the number, duration and impact
of service interruptions. Although this type
of new grid configuration and operation
has many technical and economic advan-
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
HYDROGEN & FUEL CELL
tages, it is necessary to invest more in R&D
to improve the related technologies.
Demand side management is now possible
in this grid configuration and this type of
control strategies increases the running flex-
ibility in smart grids but it is not enough for
a huge integration of renewable generators
that are non-dispatchable units. So, smart
grids need energy storage systems to adjust
the load profile with the production profile.
Energy storage based on hydrogen has
received a great deal of attention during
recent years, as it is being considered as an
ideal technology to complement renewable
energy sources. A hydrogen based storage
system includes: an electrolyzer, used to
convert electrical energy into hydrogen; a
storage device, in order to store the hydro-
gen and transport it to a different location;
and a fuel cell to convert hydrogen back
into electricity when and where needed.
Main advantages of hydrogen based stor-
age systems include the potential to imple-
ment systems over a wide range of power,
from a few kW up to multiple MW, regard-
less of charge rate, discharge rate and stor-
age capacity, modularity and the potential
to provide hydrogen for transport applica-
tions. In smart grid applications, hydrogen
based storage systems can be used as stor-
age device to make dispatchable intermit-
tent renewable energy sources.
The revenue potential of arbitrage pric-
ing is not enough to attract investments
in energy storage systems, both because
of the low profit margins compared to
high investment costs and because of the
dependence of the price difference on en-
ergy policy and regulations. However, other
applications and possible revenue streams
exist for energy storage systems. These
applications are related with grid ancillary
services. The advantage of using hydrogen
energy store system is the capability for
use in electrical power system for different
control aspect, in short, medium and long
time called primary, secondary and tertiary
control. Any imbalance between electric
power generation and consumption results,
in real-time, in a frequency change within
the entire network of the synchronous area,
and is related to the primary control. Sec-
ondary control reserve is activated after 30
seconds to restore system frequency within
the synchronous area and to rebalance
generation and consumption within each
control area. The tertiary control reserve is
typically operated in succession or, in case
of larger incidents, as a supplement to sec-
ondary control reserve.
Hydrogen storage systems allow working
in with different types of energy sources
dispatching such as intermittent, peaking,
loading following and base load. Otherwise,
hydrogen storage fits perfectly for secondary
and tertiary control reserves and their pro-
vision is of great importance for hydrogen
in order to generate additional revenues.
Due to increasing shares of renewable gen-
erators, the prices for control reserves have
been increasing in recent years 
75
HYDROGEN & FUEL CELL
GREEN SOURCE
New way to cut fuel consumption and emissions
The price of diesel and petrol is stressing everybody. Availability and price was already an issue
In Karl Benz’s days. His early customers had to buy petrol in small quantities from pharmacies
that sold it as a cleaning solvent. Henry Ford designed his first cars to run on hemp gasoline,
because he believed in organic power. We are coming closer to his dream.
T
he gasoline and motor manufactu-
ring industries have been in a sym-
biotic relationship from the begin-
ning. Conventional engine efficiencies are
no threat to oil markets. Automotive fuels
generate surplus heat that wears engines
out. This was never intentional. Things just
panned out that way, and South African
motorists are continuing to foot the bill.
Failed attempts in the past
During the century and a half since Karl
Benz produced his first petrol engine in
1878 –and patented his carburettor,
spark plugs, battery, and so on for he was
no philanthropist– various schemes and
dreams of alternative fuel have popped
up, made their claims, and vanished. Back
in 1918, Charles H. Frazer patented a
hydrogen-oxygen generator. Since then,
the idea of running a car on water has ap-
peared regularly.
Stanley Meyer was undoubtedly the most
controversial character, and is primarily re-
sponsible for the reputation of hydrogen
fuel falling into disrepute. He modified a
dune buggy to run on water using electrol-
ysis, and convinced investors to cough up
millions to develop the idea. When he died
unexpectedly in 1998, he took his technol-
ogy - if it existed - to the grave. An Ohio
judge awarded him a posthumous medal
for fraud.
Current state initiatives
The Icelandic government has been ex-
perimenting with hydrogen as an energy
carrier since 1999. They have an unlimited
supply of frozen water and this makes it a
natural partner for their drive to eliminate
fossil fuels. America continues to invest
mega-millions in hydrogen as alterna-
76
tive power source. NASA
has reported that adding
hydrogen to gasoline ex-
tends the lean operating
range in which emissions
are lower and thermal ef-
ficiency higher. However,
the automotive industry
has consistently failed to
catch the ball.
A breakthrough finally
Canadian company Green Source has en-
thusiastically seized the baton, and is run-
ning with it in many countries where high
fuel efficiency and low airborne pollution
are priorities. What makes their method
different from previous efforts is they do
not advocate running cars off pure hy-
drogen gas, as NASA did with its space
shuttles. They are using add-on technol-
ogy that piggybacks off conventional fuel
delivery systems.
In their design, a small amount of elec-
tricity taken from the battery splits the
water atom into oxygen and hydrogen gas
through electrolysis. The hydrogen injects
into the combustion chamber alongside
the fuel and adds extra oomph to the cy-
cle, while the oxygen discharges harmless-
ly. The solution is as simple as it sounds,
and it works! All you literally need do is
add water.
Significant benefits for car
owners
Green Source technology is making steady
inroads in worlds markets, where it pro-
vides significant benefits to those who in-
vest in it.
s Thermally efficient fuel consumption
including the 15% that ends up in the
exhaust pipes of conventionally fuelled
vehicles - more power for fewer do-
llars.
s Complete combustion resulting insig-
nificantly lower NOx, CO, CO2 and HC
emissions - a great counterpunch for
global warming.
Any technically competent person can do
the installation and there are full step-by-
step instructions. The HHO generators are
available in different ratings to match en-
gine size, and should cost in the region of
between US$292 to US$489.
The guaranteed 20% to 60% fuel sav-
ings should make filling up significantly
more pleasant for those who invest in the
technology.
Installing the HHO system
An experienced fitter can add the Hydrogen
HHO generator in a couple of hours pro-
vided the engine configuration is reason-
ably straightforward. More sophisticated
vehicles necessitate a ProTuner fuel man-
agement electronic controller to prevent
the original vehicle design from overriding
the benefits of this simple technology.
Similar equipment has been available
in North America for several years and is
regularly retrofitted to large fleets.
Green Source guarantees an operating
life of four years for this fuel saving equip-
ment. More than enough time for a satis-
factory payback 
energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14
 PRODUCTS & SERVICES
New HYDROSAFE™ Indirect Heat Exchanger
for Dry Gas Seal Applications
Watlow®, an industry leader in
the design and manufacture
of complete thermal systems,
recently introduced its HYDRO-
SAFE™ indirect electric heat
exchanger, a ready-made solu-
tion for dry gas seal applications.
Watlow’s new HYDROSAFE can
be installed quickly and easily be-
cause the heating element, ves-
sel, insulation, terminal enclosure,
mounting plate and inlet and
outlet connections are combined
into a complete assembly. The gas
is heated inside a small diameter
seamless tube or pipe to allow for
high system pressure capability
requirements. When packaged
with a Watlow HYDROSAFE con-
trol panel, the system provides
very flexible heating capabili-
ties to compensate for changes
in gas flow rates, or changes in
gas composition. The construc-
tion of the HYDROSAFE offers
many benefits. The one-piece,
non-welded design minimizes
potential leaks and allows high-
pressure operation. The 316L
stainless steel fluid path is inde-
pendent from the heater sheath
preventing fluid contamination.
This also allows sensitive materi-
als to be heated effectively, and
assures safety because heater fail-
ure will not cause leaks or signifi-
cant damage. The small diameter
and low volume pressure bound-
ary allow use in many countries
without the need for further
pressure vessel certifications. The
small size of the HYDROSAFE
ensures it won’t take up valuable
space on an offshore platform,
and the small mass means a
minimal effect on buoyancy
requirements. The package is
also well suited for all onshore
applications due to its ability
to meet a wide range of flow
rates and temperatures within
the same package. “Watlow’s
new HYDROSAFE is ideal for
the harsh working environments
found in oil exploration, extrac-
tion and refining, petrochemical
industries, etc. because it is small,
rugged and non-contaminating,”
said Dennis Long, marketing di-
rector. “Our customers that have
tested HYDROSAFE are extremely
pleased with its performance and
durability.”

Santos Maquinaria Eléctrica S.L. activity is focused

on the rewinding, repair, sale and maintenance of
AC and DC electrical rotating machinery.
Our workshop has been sized with functional
feasibility for maximum enhancement of equipment.
Incorporating to this factor our skilled workman ship
and the specific expertise of our qualified staff, we
are able to deal best with the maximum guarantee
repair of electrical rotating machinery, from simple
to complex motors and wind generators, high and
low voltage AC/DC electric motors, wind turbine
gearboxes, geared motors or gearboxes.

Workshop services
- AC/DC low and high voltage electric motors
up to 15 KV
- AC wind generators
- Wind turbine gearboxes, geared-motors and
gearboxes.
- Machining and rebuilding of mechanical
parts and sleeve bearings.
- Core and squirrel cage repair and restack.
- Manufacture of formed coils and Roebel bars
up to 15 kV
- Repair and maintenance of geared motors.
- Repair and maintenance of electric, hydraulic
and vacuum pumps.
C/ Sindicalismo 13-15. P.I.Los Olivos,
- Dynamic Balancing.
28906 Getafe-Madrid. Spain
- Insulation resistance test ,EDA III test, Tan Phone: +34 91 468 35 00.
delta and partial discharge test , vibration Fax: +34 91 467 06 45/ +34 91 539 74 24
analysis, videoscope inspection, laser info@santosmaquinaria.es
alignment, surge and hipot test, thermo graphic comercial@santosmaquinaria.es
inspection, among others. www.santosmaquinaria.es

energetica INTERNATIONAL · Nº 4 · MAR14 77

PRODUCTS&SERVICES

The New Generation of Magnetic Rotary Encoders

Pepperl+Fuchs are develop-
ing magnetic rotary encoders
to redefine the boundaries of
technical feasibility. Boasting
accuracies of up to 0.1°, a
resolution of up to 16 bit, and
a cycle time of < 100 μs, these
encoders are taking flexibil-
ity and performance to new
heights.Developed specifi-
cally for use in ambient con-
ditions that pose challenges
for mechanical systems,
these encoders demonstrate
their performance even in
the most adverse application
scenarios, such as in offshore
wind turbines or in the mo-
bile equipment industry. The
key advantage of magnetic
rotary encoder technology
is its noncontact detection
principle, which uses no me-
chanical gear that can wear
or incur maintenance and
service costs. This technology,
which is not subject to envi-
ronmental influences, deliv-
ers reliable measured values.
Pepperl+Fuchs absolute ro-
tary encoders are based on a
magnetic detection principle
and use a two-axis Hall sen-
sor, which generates a sine
or cosine signal via a rotat-
ing magnetic field. This signal
is processed via an internal
processor that compares the
process value with the output
value of an absolute rotary
encoder with optical scan-
ning. This internal processor
enables unique, compact
single-turn absolute rotary
encoders to be created in
small construction volumes.
Combined with an additional
Wiegand sensor, these single-
turn absolute rotary encoders
are converted into multiturn
absolute rotary encoders. A
permanent magnetic field
that is made to rotate by the
Wiegand sensor generates
a change in the direction of
the magnetic field in the core
of the Wiegand sensor, and
in turn an induction voltage
in the coil wrapped around
the sensor. Energy is there-
fore always available during
a change in the direction of
the magnetic field, i.e., twice
per revolution. This energy is
used to electronically count
the revolutions and to power
the electronics. An internal
battery for supplying power
to the electronics is not re-
quired. The rotary encoders
supplied by Pepperl+Fuchs
are therefore not affected
by voltage failures. No data
is lost and all position values
are available after reboot-
ing. The noncontact and
nonwearing Wiegand sensor
is therefore instrumental in
increasing reliability and in
reducing maintenance and
service work.In addition to
high reliability and a long
service life, multiturn sens-
ing technology enables more
compact designs compared
to conventional technology
thanks to the Wiegand ef-
fect. The integrated Wie-
gand sensor replaces delicate
mechanical gears, saving on
the space required for these
gears. This sensor enables
the creation of uniquely com-
pact absolute value encoders.
The advanced magnetic field
technology of these encod-
ers is accommodated in small
housings of 36 millimeters
and up.In a new range of
magnetic absolute rotary en-
coders with accuracies of 1°
to 0.1°, Pepperl+Fuchs will
in future offer rotary encoder
technology that delivers new
prospects for general machine
engineering scenarios and
plant automation. Optimized
precision and performance
keep processes current, even
in difficult industrial environ-
ments involving high loads.
In this way, the revolutionary
magnetic rotary encoder tech-
nology improves production
reliability. What’s more, these
rotary encoders ensure im-
proved efficiency with perfor-
mance matched to the appli-
cation in question—not least
because the sophisticated
magnetic technology virtually
eliminates maintenance and
service costs, and prolongs
the encoder’s service life even
in dusty, dirty environments
and at extreme temperatures.
Even in applications where
compact housing designs play
a role, magnetic absolute ro-
tary encoders are opening up
a surprising wealth of new
potential uses, regardless of
the sector.

Back up system for telecommunications towers

Ajusa, Spanish manufacturer of PEM Fuel Cells, has launched a back up system for telecommu-
nications towers. This unit is highly competitive compared to the traditional battery systems and
gen sets, requires a small space and very low maintenance.
The unit specs are:
s Power: 1 kW, 2 kW, ó 3 kW
s 48h autonomy, with the possibility to increase according to the number of H2 bottles.
s Working temperature -20 ºC to +35 ºC
s Output 48 Vcc
s Remote control via web

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82 energética XXI · Nº 4 · MAR14