Press Release

EUROPEAN COMMISSION CO-FINANCED PROJECT “RELIAWIND” KICKS-OFF

  • Reliawind will provide more efficient and reliable wind turbines by 2011.

  • NREL, the US based National Laboratory, has been invited to be the first member of the “Reliability Panel”.

  • “Users Working Group” is created in order to interact with world leading wind farm owners.

Project Reliawind has officially kicked-off. Consortium members gathered in Gamesa’s offices in Madrid for a launch meeting.

With 78 deliverables planned, the Reliawind project’s main goal is to usher in a new generation of more efficient and reliable wind turbines, providing practical results to be used in wind turbine design, operations and maintenance. The project will be developed over three years, for completion by March 2011 with a total budget of 7.7 M€ and EC funding of 5.2 M€.

Ten top partners are taking part in this ambitious project, each of them leaders in technical and operational disciplines in the wind power generation value chain.

This includes the Wind Industry itself, Gamesa (project coordinator), Ecotecnia, LMGlasfiber, Hansen, ABB and SKF.

Technology experts are Garrad Hassan and Relex Reliability Software and Services.

Academia is represented by Durham University, UK and SZTAKI, a Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest.

Project’s Objectives

The project aims to achieve better efficiency for wind turbines, through the deployment of new systems with reduced maintenance requirements and increased availability. To this end, the project proposes architecture directed at a modular design more immune to environmental conditions, permitting the replacement of components simply and quickly; to improve monitoring systems for components and thus achieve more accurate diagnosis; and to develop preventive maintenance algorithms for failure anticipation. These new technologies will be integrated in future generations of wind turbine components, wind turbines and wind farms.

Project Advisory Bodies

A “Reliability Panel” has been established in order to interact with top-level experts in reliability worldwide, not necessarily from the wind energy sector, such as aerospace and other sectors where reliability is paramount. Its mission is to share conclusions, establish guidelines, etc. The first invitation to join the “Reliability panel” has been issued to NREL, the US National Laboratory.

A “Users Working Group” has also been established in order to interact with top wind farm owners worldwide. Its mission will be to share experiences in wind farm operation and maintenance, providing feedback on “best practice”. The first invitations to potential members will be issued shortly.

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