Global marine technology company Kongsberg Maritime is working on what it calls the Windsense project, which aims to develop a new and flexible instrumentation system for wind turbines.
According to the company, the system will help to make wind power more economically competitive. The project, which will cost around NOK 22 million ($3.85 million), has been initiated through collaboration within the Norwegian Centres of Expertise Instrumentation.
The goal of the project is to develop a system that will make wind turbines more effective by reducing unplanned shutdowns. The system also aims to make it possible to temporarily run the turbines at a lower capacity in anticipation of required maintenance, which further reduces downtime.
"We hope that this project will help to make offshore wind power more competitive and thus help to facilitate a green Norwegian economy in the future," says project manager Oddbjorn Malmo. "This system will primarily be an instrument for monitoring the technical condition of the wind turbine and the life cycle of the components used. It will make it possible to more accurately predict when the equipment must be replaced.
The project has been awarded NOK 10 million from The Norwegian Research Council's RENERGI program.
