NewsKEPCO Power Research Institute has obtained international certification for the nation's first wind turbine condition monitoring system [Source: Electric Power]

Development of Key Technology for Wind Turbine Maintenance Market, which is worth $13.8 billion worldwide 


[Electrical Power Reporter Lee Jae-yong]
Korea Electric Power Corp.(President Kim Jong-gap) said it has jointly developed a "wind turbine condition monitoring diagnostic system" for predicting failures and monitoring conditions of wind power generation systems with SM Instruments and the Korea Institute of Machinery and has received international certification for condition monitoring from DNV-GL.

The size of the domestic wind power market was around 1.3MW in 1998, but the cumulative installation capacity in 2018 grew to 1,300MW.

Accordingly, research is actively underway to reduce operating and maintenance costs, which account for 10 to 30 percent of the cost of producing wind energy.

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CMS hardware of 'wind turbine condition monitoring diagnostic system' for predicting failure and monitoring of 
wind power system by KEPCO Power Research Institute.


"The global wind power operation and maintenance market is estimated to be worth $13.8 billion in 2018, and the Korea Electric Power Research Institute succeeded in localization of its core technology, wind turbine status monitoring system," said an official at the Korea Electric Power Research Institute. "As overseas products with superior price competitiveness have recently been distributed in Korea, we started developing new products in 2016 and won international certification in September this year for the first time in Korea."

Unlike conventional system data processing devices, the new wind turbine status monitoring system fully localized major components and reduced unit prices of products by more than 50 percent.

It also obtained additional performance European (CE) certification of electromagnetic compatibility.

The state monitoring system of the Korea Electric Power Research Institute can predict the possibility of failure and the residual life of facilities by integrating and analyzing data such as vibration, operation data and tower loads generated from wind power generators and conducting mechanical learning.

In addition, 20 wind turbines can be organized into one group to manage up to 500 turbines simultaneously for the smooth operation of a large offshore wind farm.

If the Korea Electric Power Research Institute's new status monitoring system is applied to the offshore wind power complex in the southwestern part of the country, it is expected to save about 1 billion won/year in maintenance costs and expand its application in Korea as it can increase the design life of wind power generators.

"We are seeking to commercialize the wind turbine status monitoring system and plan to secure technological and price competitiveness compared to overseas products through continuous upgrading of technology," said an official at KEPCO's Korea Electric Power Research Institute.


Source: http://www.epj.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=23667 / Reporter Lee Jae-yong