Best Technological Innovation

At the 2015 Wind Energy Operations & Maintenance Summit USA that was held April 14^th and 15^th in Dallas, Texas, the 2015 WEU O&M Excellence Award for “Best Technological Innovation” was awarded to Bachmann. This prize was given to the automation specialist for its controller retrofit solution as technological innovation for wind power plants.

The inaugural WEU O&M Excellence Awards, sponsored by E.ON and DWPAA (Danish Wind Power Academy Americas), brought together over 400 executives from the Global wind energy sector to celebrate excellence and outstanding achievements in the operations and maintenance of wind turbines over the past year.

The jury existed of wind industry peers and voted amongst four finalists for Bachmann electronic and its intelligent controller retrofit solution for wind power plants as the winner in the “Best Technological Innovation” category.

New life for wind power plants

Bachmann with its controller retrofit brought a solution on the market that upgrades wind turbines to the latest technological state. Thousands of wind turbines on the market have already been in operation for ten years or more. Spares warranties have run out, maintenance contracts have to be renewed. For plant operators this raises the question of how to further ensure the operational reliability of their turbines in the future. In this case, starting a completely new chapter is really worthwhile. An effective retrofit not only makes it possible to extend the lifespan of a turbine but also to improve the yield.

Instead of the capital-intensive option of building a new wind power plant, operators are increasingly opting for a tailored retrofit solution with open source software from Bachmann to modernize their existing plants and thus increase their lifespan. Any fault susceptible components are replaced, thus increasing plant reliability. At the same time, state-of-the-art technologies and innovative control systems combined with monitoring solutions can be retrofitted to thus open up further potential for increasing the yield of the power plant, reducing turbine loads, extending turbine life, adding integrated condition monitoring capability, increasing safety, and improving performance and reliability of the wind turbine.