Benchmark of Blade-based Ice Detection Systems (Continuation 392)

Project Number 401

An optimized and efficient operation of wind parks under icing conditions has become a very important issue for the operators. A thorough evaluation study of commercially available ice detection instruments was carried out within VGB project 392. The study was finalised in February 2016 and is a basic document for the VGB members to review and optimize the operation of their wind parks under icing conditions. One main finding of the report was that there are four systems on the market which are able to measure rotor icing. Three of them are rather young systems. Up to today, there is no independent benchmark available for these four systems.

Therefore, a comprehensive field test will be carried out in this follow-up project, where all four systems will be installed and tested at the same wind turbine during the winters 2016/17 and 2017/18. The field test (benchmark) will be carried out at the wind park Stor-Rotliden in Västerbotten, Sweden. The wind park consists of 40 Vestas V90 wind turbines, which are non-heated. The wind park is owned and operated by Vattenfall.

The project is structured into the following steps and tasks:

  • The installation of four blade-based ice detection systems (Weidmüller BLADEcontrol, Eologix, fos4x fos4IceDetection, Wölfel IDD.Blade) will take place in summer/autumn 2016/2017.
  • The data of all ice detection systems as well as the SCADA data of the wind turbine will be collected.
  • The performance of the systems will be analysed and evaluated. Camera images of sensors and the blades will be taken and used as reference.
  • The differences between the four systems will be described.

The detailed measurement program as well as the list of questions to be answered will be defined by Meteotest as research institution in close collaboration with the project advisory board and the ice detection system manufacturers. All data and camera images will be stored in a dedicated data base.

The project is assigned to the VGB research programme “Efficient Use and System Integration of Renewables“ (EUSI-RES). The project realisation will be supervised by the VGB Technical Committee Wind Energy.