IEC meetings at Bachmann electronic

From April 20^th to 24^th 2015, three international wind meetings of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), worldwide recognized standardization body in the fields of electrical engineering and electronics, took place at Bachmann electronic. 81 top-level experts and decision-makers of industrial enterprises, certification companies, power plant operators, universities and public authorities from 14 different countries out of Europe, North America, Asia and Africa met at the leading automation specialist for wind power plants in Feldkirch, Austria.

First of all the WE-OMC (Wind Energy – Operational Management Committee) held its initial meeting at Bachmann. WE-OMC is part of the IECRE (IEC System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in Renewable Energy Applications) and covers next to wind energy also photovoltaics and maritime energy (e.g. wave and tidal power plants). In five working groups the requirements for the international trade of wind turbines including its components and services in compliance with security standards were developed. The objective of the WE-OMC is to push applications in the area of renewable energies by the establishment of uniform standards to further expand renewable energies in the future.

Afterwards the CAG (Chairman’s Advisory Group), which basically defines the strategy in the area of wind standards, met up. In Feldkirch the main focus of these sessions lied on the international marketing of these wind standards.

On the last two days, the TC88 meeting took place. TC stands for Technical Committee and the group 88 develops new wind standards respectively revises existing wind standards, whereas the standardization work is done in individual groups. At the TC88 meeting the proceedings of the individual standardization groups were presented and the approval for developing a new standard within the safety area was given. “Bachmann will also make a contribution for this purpose. For many years now, the company has been engaged with functional safety, which covers the protection of individuals and the environment. In this field we offer safety modules and development environments for the safe operation of wind power plants”, explains Peter Nachbaur, responsible for research development and patent system at Bachmann electronic.

About IEC

The International Electrotechnical Commission, short IEC, is an international standardization organization with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, responsible for standards in the fields of electrical engineering and electronics. In Technical Committees (TC), Sub Committees (SC) and Working Groups (WG) international norms and standards of electrical engineering are compiled, whereas IEC norms have numbers between 60000 and 79999.

The IEC consists of members, called National Committees (NC). Each NC represents the national electrotechnical interests in the IEC. This includes manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and providers, consumers and users, all levels of governmental authorities, professional and trade associations as well as developers of national standards bodies. About 90 % of the employees, that prepare IEC standards, work in industry.

Wind standards

Within the IEC standards there is the TC88 (Technical Committee) that deals with the standardization in the field of wind turbines. Wind standards are part of the standardization series IEC61400. One of these wind standards is the IEC61400-26, which covers the availability of wind turbines and wind parks.

Benefit of standardization work

The benefit of standardization work and systems was examined by the Fraunhofer Institute for System Dynamics and Innovation Research as well as the Technical University of Dresden in a scientific study questioning 700 companies in the German-speaking area. The key findings of this study were:

• The costs of the whole Austrian standardization system are EUR 58 million per year whereas the annual contribution of standardization to the gross domestic product (GDP) is in the range of about EUR 2.4 billion; this means that every invested euro in standardization has an output of about 40 euros.

• The early recognition and knowledge, in which direction certain matters develop, leads to time savings for companies to introduce adjustment, renewal and innovation processes on time.

• European and international standards expand sales markets.

• Standards promote the economic efficiency of companies and support cooperation.