English
SALOME
Dynamic monitoring of offshore wind turbines subject to atmospheric phenomena for optimized participation in the Electricity Markets
Objective of the project
In order to meet the increasing demand for energy, reduce the need to import scarce underground energy resources (gas, oil), and importantly, to succeed the energy transition and achieve the carbon neutrality by 2050, the North Sea has been identified as the Europe’s “Green Power Plant”. Within such a context, the countries around the North Sea, including France and Belgium, have launched ambitious offshore wind farm projects to fully exploit the North Sea’s potential for producing green electricity. The new offshore wind farms to be installed in the North Sea will be of the latest technology (of wind turbines), which are generally very large (up to almost 300 metres of height with a blade length of around 180 metres). These new offshore structures will require active predictive control and continuous dynamic loading management, given that they will be subject to harsh atmospheric phenomena and challenging mechanical forcing, particularly when these wind turbines are asked to provide auxiliary services (frequency-power control) to the electricity grid. The latter (provision of auxiliary services) indeed implies a sudden change in the operating point of the wind turbines, which will generate a significant additional structural load, accelerating the fatigue and ageing of the wind turbines.
The SALOME project aims to develop innovative atmospheric and mechanical models that can represent the environment and structural load to which offshore wind turbines are subjected by exploiting relevant measurement data. These data will be provided in real time by temperature and vibration sensors as well as with strain gauges distributed along optical fibres deployed on the wind turbines at the predefined pilot site in Belgium and/or France. The latter measurements will then be incorporated into the proposed decision-making tool (having a time horizon ranging from one day in advance to real time) designed to manage the frequency-power balancing (control) of the electricity system at the lowest possible cost. This proposed decision-making tool will enable a dynamic management and a predictive control of offshore wind turbines by incorporating mechanical constraints such as ageing and fatigue to provide auxiliary services to the power grid.
SALOME proposes a novel scientific strategy for dynamic management and predictive maintenance of offshore wind turbines, by taking into consideration all the physical parameters and phenomena impacting offshore wind turbines and their lifespan. As such, SALOME differs from the existing scientific literature and research projects that focus mainly on appropriate optimisation strategies or control mechanism for participation of the wind farms in the electricity market, while neglecting the highly turbulent atmospheric environment and the structural load to which offshore wind turbines are subjected.
In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives of the project, a cross-border collaboration is required, combining the expertise and know-how present in the three implied regions, in the field of distributed and quasi-distributed fibre optic sensors (Advanced Photonic Sensors Department, University of Mons, and Multitel Research Centre, Belgium), modelling of the maritime atmospheric environment and fluid mechanics (LPCA and LOG laboratories, Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale, France), offshore wind turbine control (Ghent University, Belgium) and decision-making in electricity markets (Electrical Power Engineering Department, University of Mons, Belgium).
In summary, SALOME will facilitate the development, adaptation, and integration of offshore wind turbines by optimising their lifespan and minimising their operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. SALOME will also contribute to render the electricity prices more affordable by optimising the management and exploitation of offshore wind turbines. The techno-economic analysis foreseen in the project will quantify the (financial and technical) benefits of a predictive control and a dynamic management of offshore wind turbines to provide safe and reliable electrical energy. In particular, such an analysis will help the wind farm operators/owners such as Engie, Eoliennes En Mer De Dunkerque (EMD) in France, and Aspiravi, C-Power, Parkwind in Belgium as well as the maintenance companies such as John Cockerill in Belgium and EDF Renouvelables in France to optimise the operation and management costs of the future offshore wind turbines in the North Sea.
The SALOME project can be clearly seen as a facilitator in the implementation of the European Green Deal, which aims to ‘‘provide clean, affordable, and secure energy to the whole EU’’, while also being a key enabler of the offshore wind developments expected in the North Sea (e.g., Princess Elisabeth zone/island) by 2030.
Total budget of the project (Multitel): 419 987,50 €
- EU funding (ERDF): 251 992,50 €
- Walloon Region funding : 62 998,13 €
Contribution of Multitel
MULTITEL will intervene in the SALOME project through its Applied Photonics research department. This department has more than 20 years of experience in the field of optical technologies on optical fibers such as lasers, amplifiers or sensors (fiber Bragg gratings or FBG). The department includes optical experts capable of designing a complex system for interrogating multiple sensors on optical fibers combined by temporal, spatial or spectral methods; experts in electronics who will be able to create the various maps necessary for controlling laser sources and collecting signals; experts in signal processing and also in mechanical design and prototyping who will enable practical solutions, transportable and usable by the project partners.
As part of the SALOME project, a new type of detection system will be developed in Work Module 5.
This one will be based on the backscattering effects of light along the fiber rather than on point sensors (FBG) as developed by UMONS-APS in the MT4.
Here we will use laser sources (developed in-house) of great spectral fineness and therefore of great coherence in order to detect phase variations on the backscattered signal throughout the fiber. This measurement of the optical phase will be very sensitive to any element external to the fiber such as temperature, vibrations and even changes in pressure. This type of sensor will be deployed along a wind turbine mast and will allow real-time monitoring of the stresses on it, as well as other elements that may be characteristic of the system’s operating state such as blade movement, acoustic frequencies, the vibrations…
The device that will be developed must be validated in an on-board laboratory (in collaboration with UMONS) and then on a pilot site as part of MT8, with the other project partners. Thus MULTITEL will contribute to the measurement campaigns that will be carried out with its sensors.
In order to gather information on the types of signals that one wishes to detect and also to inform the partners about the possibilities and limits of the sensors that will be developed, MULTITEL will also intervene (rather informational/advisory) in the MT2, 3, 6 and 7 in order to exchange with the other consortium members.
Thus the role of MULTITEL is part of the development of new expertise in the continuity of its previous research topics and in complementarity with the work that will be carried out by the other members of the consortium.