Kjeller Vindteknikk has been granted funding by the Swedish Energy Agency for a new research project to develop the next generation calculation model for ice-related production losses, IceLoss 2.0. The project will last through 2018-2019 and will involve wind farm owners who will provide operational data from a large number of wind farms in cold climate. Several universities will also be working with computational fluid dynamics as part of the project.
‒ The current IceLoss model was developed by us during 2007-2014 with partial funding from the Swedish Energy Agency and we are very pleased that we once again have gotten their confidence to develop an even more modern model, says Rickard Klinkert, Managing Director at Kjeller Vindteknikk AB.
Ice on turbines is the second largest source of loss in production calculations of wind farms in cold climate, after wake losses. The local icing climate of each wind farm is unique and it is of great importance to have good knowledge about the icing conditions in the early stage, to make farm planning cost effective and efficient, as well as to increase profitability. There are also large differences between individual turbines within the same park.
‒ In addition to developing a new model for ice growth where we specifically study the aerodynamic properties of a turbine blade, we will also take into account different turbine operational strategies in the new model, says Johannes Lindvall, project leader for IceLoss 2.0.
The goals of project IceLoss 2.0 is to
- get a more accurate description of the icing climate in wind farms
- create a better model to describe ice growth on turbine blades,
- develop a new and even more precise IceLoss model with an improved calculation of the uncertainty.