Quantification of over-speed risk in wind turbine fleets

Mcmillan, David and Ault, Graham (2011) Quantification of over-speed risk in wind turbine fleets. IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, 2 (4). 487 - 494. ISSN 1949-3029 (https://doi.org/10.1109/TSTE.2011.2145011)

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Abstract

The effective life management of large and diverse fleets of wind turbines is a new problem facing power system utilities. More specifically, the minimization of over-speed risk is of high importance due to the related impacts of possible loss of life and economic implications of over-speed, such as a loss of containment event. Meeting the goal of risk minimization is complicated by the large range of turbine types present in a typical fleet. These turbines may have different pitch systems, over-speed detection systems and also different levels of functional redundancy, implying different levels of risk. The purpose of this work is to carry out a quantitative comparison of over-speed risk in different turbine configurations, using a Markov process to model detection of faults and repair actions. In the medium-long term, the risk associated with different assets can used as a decision making aid. For example if the operator is a utility, it may want to avoid purchasing high risk sites in the future, or may need to develop mitigation strategies for turbines at high risk of over speed.

ORCID iDs

Mcmillan, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3030-4702 and Ault, Graham ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6369-4300;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)