INEGI as key partner to validate the developed technologies in the MAREWIND project
29 June 2023
Why did you join the MAREWIND project and what’s your role?
INEGI’s offshore strategy aims at increasing the useful life of materials and structure in offshore wind farms. In this framework, INEGI joined the MAREWIND project to work on a twofold objective stemming from research activities that obtained results at lower TRL levels. In this regard, the possibility to test solutions at higher TRL levels – activity where INEGI is leader – is of uttermost importance and will service to validate the developed technologies closer to the market.
On the one hand, within MAREWIND, INEGI is developing and implementing a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system for Condition-based Monitoring of structural components – such as the wind blades or the generator structure – based on full-field image monitoring systems and fibre-optics technologies. This SHM system is state-of-the art in several technological aspects such as the capability to perform structural integrity evaluation with Digital Image Correlation on rotating objects. However, these have never been brought to a high-level TRL as anticipated with the MAREWIND project. In this context, INEGI also tested the advanced Distributed Fibre Optics (DFO) systems extensively in laboratory premises, but these have seldom been demonstrated in large, environmental-relevant, high TRL instances.
On the other hand, INEGI is contributing to the development of effective anti-fouling and anti-corrosion coatings for offshore structural components benefiting from INEGI’s developments in Sea applications.
What are your ambitions in contributing to the European Renewable energy targets?
INEGI has been involved in the Renewables arena from its very start. The offshore energies domain has dominated a good part of INEGI’s past and future plans and strategy and through the years INEGI undertook innumerous activities in topics related to this domain. INEGI therefore has the ambition to be a relevant technology supply player in the Portuguese and European offshore renewables and looks at this aspect of sea economy as an important source of future projects and endeavours.
Preventive or planned maintenance is the most frequently applied maintenance strategy within the offshore industry. In this context, how are you contributing to improve the monitoring techniques?
INEGI’s strategic orientation regarding maintenance of industrial assets is based on the firm belief that while some operations are best served by preventive or planned maintenance, many other can be optimized by making use of predictive maintenance. Advanced monitoring systems developed through the years have had, in many cases, the exact goal of supporting the operation of that paradigm change in the businesses under focus. Offshore renewables is such a case. Robust monitoring systems able to anticipate failure can optimise the operation of the energy production assets and gradually change the attitude regarding maintenance operations. INEGI is set to be a part of this change and invests in monitoring R&D towards that goal.
What are the main factors to take into account when developing a monitoring system for offshore wind farms?
The development of structural health monitoring systems requires careful consideration of several crucial factors, such as the definition of parameters of assessment and the selection and placement of sensors which are always of the utmost importance. In particular, when designing monitoring systems for offshore environments, the demanding environmental conditions take centre stage, as the system must be able to withstand the harsh weather conditions prevalent in these environments. This is because this system can lead to corrosion and failures caused by humidity requiring a comprehensive design that accounts for the resilience of sensors and supporting electronic equipment.
Within MAREWIND, how are you going to implement the monitoring techniques in real scale?
Within MAREWIND, the implementation of monitoring techniques of blades at a real scale involves two key approaches. Firstly, INEGI will use full-field techniques by deploying cameras on drones. These drones will fly near the wind turbine structures, capturing visual data. In this context, INEGI will employ advanced vision algorithms to analyse this data and provide continuous monitoring of the structural integrity of the wind turbines.
Secondly, we will incorporate fiber-optics technology-based monitoring systems into the blade prototypes developed within the project. The integration of the designed sensor networks into the blades will allow the capture of real-time data on their structural behaviour during the testing process. This data will provide valuable insights into the performance and integrity of the blades at a real scale.
The aim by combining these two approaches is that by applying comprehensive monitoring techniques, the structural integrity of wind turbine blades can be assessed under real conditions. In the future, the application of these techniques will help enhance maintenance practices, detect potential issues early on, and ensure the safe and efficient operation of wind energy systems.
How do you see the future of the MAREWIND project?
INEGI follows up close the developments in MAREWIND, with a special focus on condition-based monitoring but also contributing to the solutions for protective coatings and resilience increase of the overall offshore operation.
Portugal is a coastal EU country with many exploitable benefits from offshore renewables. In this context, the increase in operation’s reliability and effectiveness is tantamount to the market adhesion to offshore energy exploitation, becoming a critical component of the Portuguese strategy for the future. A large slice of that potential market investors is still considering the likely success of the investment. Therefore, the expected ROI and the results from MAREWIND may shift the balance towards a positive decision for many investors.
INEGI positions itself as one of the main RTO’s and service suppliers for that sector and we therefore embrace the future of MAREWIND as a decision game changer in our business.
