Clearway Energy Group, a renewables developer, owner and operator, and ONYX Insight, a provider of predictive data analytics and engineering expertise to the global wind industry, have marked the fifth year of their partnership by announcing that an additional 132 turbines will incorporate ONYX Insight’s software analysis in the second half of 2021. The agreement pushes total monitored assets from 850+ to over 1,000.
Large-scale owner-operators typically run diverse wind fleets, requiring a nuanced approach to monitoring and data analytics. As the U.S. wind sector prepares for a potential boom following Biden’s support for green energy, ensuring assets both new and old are run efficiently is key to driving down production costs. Keeping a close eye on turbine health is therefore central to transforming profitability.
ONYX Insight and Clearway have an ongoing software as a service (SaaS) deal, in place since 2017, which has now expanded to reach over 2 GW of capacity. ONYX’s fleetMONITOR software has been used by Clearway to analyze assets using four condition monitoring systems (CMS), over five different turbine OEMs, highlighting the importance of dedicated hardware agnostic platforms for mixed fleets.
“The increased complexity of monitoring large wind portfolios demands sophisticated digital tools,” says Dr. Zhiwei Zhang, VP of engineering at ONYX Insight. “Clearway has consolidated its system health data in a single tool, across the entire fleet, regardless of turbine type, condition monitoring system manufacturer or data output.”
A key element of the partnership has been driven by Clearway, upgrading its legacy CMS systems to create data-rich assets to unlock enhanced analysis. Almost 75% of Clearway’s fleet now uses ONYX Insight’s ecoCMS. As part of the deal, ONYX Insight has provided training to upskill Clearway’s in-house teams, freeing up engineering resource, while providing AI-driven data analytics consultancy to deliver greater cost savings from non-drivetrain components such as pitch bearings and generator wye rings.
“Wind energy is a key component of the U.S. energy mix,” adds Brian LaMay, general manager of engineering and infrastructure at Clearway Energy Group. “As the sector grows, remaining cost competitive is essential to ensure that U.S. customers benefit from affordable, clean energy. ONYX Insight has demonstrated a deep understanding of how to optimize a modern wind fleet, and we will continue to build on our collaboration with the business.”
