Ice detection
Germany
Switch to :RESTART ICE system with automatic restart
This case study shows that after just one winter, :RESTART ICE has reduced downtime due to icing by almost 50%.
“[…] ice detection is faster and more accurate than with other comparable systems.”
Daniel Nagel
Technical Operations Manager | GLS Beteiligungs AG, Germany
Project summary
About the customer
GLS Beteiligungs AG regularly offers professional investors green investment opportunities in the field of wind and solar power plants. The GLS wind farm in Schleiden was commissioned in 2000 and expanded and made more efficient in 2015. Now 13 gearless turbines of the type ENERCON E-101 and provide about 100 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, supplying more than 25,000 households with environmentally friendly electricity.
Wind farm
Schleiden
Location
Germany
Operator
GLS Windpark Schleiden GmbH & Co. KG
Turbine type
Enercon, E-101 2015
Commissioning year
2000
Chosen products
Reliable ice detection and automatic restart
An Enercon E-101 was equipped with the :RESTART ICE system. After just one winter, downtimes due to icing were reduced by almost 50%.
Due to frequent shutdowns and extremely high downtimes, an alternative solution, instead of the existing nacelle-based ice etection system, was sought. Decisive for the choice of the rotor blade-based system from EOLOGIX-PING was, among other things:
- the accurate and fast ice detection by measuring directly on the blade
- the accurate and fast ice detection by measuring directly on the blade.
Amortization after only one winter due to automatic restart
Due to very high downtimes due to icing with the existing nacelle-based system, the company was looking for a new ice detection system. In the decision-making process, three different systems were considered in more detail – the decisive factor for the EOLOGIX-PING system was the direct measurement on the rotor blade.
In the past, a nacelle-based ice detection system was used on the Enercon turbine. However, this resulted in very frequent shutdowns and long downtimes. The additional high maintenance effort for the operators of the wind farm for the manual start-up of the urbine led to the decision for a solution from EOLOGIX-PING with automatic restart, :RESTART ICE. The system is simple in design and the installation by sticking the sensors directly on the rotor blade surface is easy to retrofit.
After successful installation, the system already ran for one winter. Mr. Nagel was able to confirm after just one winter that the system accurately and reliably detects ice and that downtimes due to icing are reduced many times over.
“We have chosen the EOLOGIX-PING sensor system because it measures directly on the rotor blade and therefore ice detection is faster and more accurate than with other comparable systems.“
Daniel Nagel
Technical Operations Manager GLS Beteiligungs AG, Germany
From a financial point of view, already in the first winter there was a saving of about 50% of the downtimes due to icing and due to this a payback of the EOLOGIX-PING system. With :RESTART ICE we have an automatic restart, which saves us an enormous amount of time and money due to the reduced manual effort.
The service and support during the entire project by the EOLOGIX-PING team was excellent. You don’t have to worry about anything and always have a personal contact person. It is also particularly great that you can view the sensor data at any time via your own online access.
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