PowerCurve’s Innovative Performance Analysis

Nicholas Gaudern, CTO of Denmark-based Power Curve, discusses how
advanced blade scanning, aerodynamic upgrades, and the AeroVista
tool are transforming wind turbine performance analysis. PowerCurve
helps operators use real data to maximize AEP and make smarter
decisions about blade maintenance and upgrades. Sign up now for
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technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard
Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape
Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show
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YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the
show? Email us! Allen Hall: Nicholas, welcome back to the
podcast. Hi. Thanks Allen. Good to see you again. There's a lot
going on in wind right now. Obviously the elections that happy the
United States are changing the way that a lot of US based operators
are thinking about their turbines and, and particularly their
blades. I've noticed over the last, even just couple of weeks that.
Operators and the engineers are paying more attention to what
they're actually getting on site. Nicholas Gaudern: Yes. Allen
Hall: Instead of, uh, the sort of the full service agreement where,
hey, they're under warranty for two years, I don't really need to
do anything for a little while approach. That's changing into, I
want to know what arrives on site, what am I getting and what
problems are there with these particular blades that I may not know
about because they're new to me. Even though these blades, there
may be thousands of these blades out in service. Mm-hmm. Me, my
company doesn't know. Yep. How they operate. How they perform,
particularly at this, this new site, I'm Repowering or, [00:01:00]
or building new. That is a complete shift. From where it was a year
ago, two years ago, five years ago. Yeah. And I think the biggest
performance piece that people are looking at is aerodynamics, and
I'm trying to understand how these blades perform, how they move.
Yes. What kind of loads there are, what kind I expect over the next
year or two. And I think they're just becoming now aware of maybe I
need to have a game plan. Nicholas Gaudern: Mm-hmm. Allen Hall: And
I, and that's where power curve comes in, is like in the sense of
have a king plan. Understand what these plates are all about. Yeah,
yeah. And try to characterize 'em early rather than later. Nicholas
Gaudern: Yeah, exactly. I think there's been an increased focus on,
on data and for operators, as you say, to understand more what
they're getting and not necessarily relying on just what they're
told. So, uh, I think a nice case study of that is last year we
were helping a customer to build a, a digital twin. Uh, of one of
their turbine models that they, that they purchased. So what that
involved [00:02:00] is, uh, going to site, doing a laser scan of a
blade, understanding geometry, helping them to build up some
aerodynamic and structural models of that blade. So then that
customer was going to build an AEL model themselves of that turbine
so that they could run load calculations. They could look at, uh,
site specific, uh, changes that could be relevant to that turbine's
configuration or how they operated it. And this isn't really
something that you saw a lot of, uh, a few years ago, but I think
it's great that operators, particularly when they have a larger
engineering capacity, are starting to get into that game. Uh, and
it's tough because it's a lot of what the OEMs do, it's their kind
of specialist knowledge, but there's a lot of smart people out
there. Uh, there's a lot of companies you can work with to help
gather that data and build these products up. Allen Hall: The OEMs
right now are. Lowering the number of engineers. Nicholas Gaudern:
Mm-hmm. Allen Hall: Staff reductions. Yeah. Uh, so getting a hold
of somebody on the engineering staff, particularly with
aerodynamics, can be quite hard. Yes. And in fact, I've talked to
[00:03:00] some smaller operators that can't get access to those
people at all. Nicholas Gaudern: No, no. We, we get told that a lot
that, um, there's, there's customers calling OEMs and they, yeah.
They can't, they can't speak to anyone who really understands that
the issues that they're facing. But free now we, we have contact
with a lot of OEMs. I would say that we have more aerodynamicists
and power curve than some OEMs have now. Oh, that's true. And
that's quite, that's true. Surprising. You know. Um, so it does
mean that I think from a customer support perspective, it is harder
for the OEMs to take on some of those really detailed or nuanced
questions that an operator may have. Allen Hall: Right. Operators
are getting smarter. Nicholas Gaudern: Yep. Allen Hall: And asking
more pointed questions, not generic questions anymore. Uh, we've
had, uh, junker on the podcast and I, when I ran into her last
summer, she was basically saying that like you, you're talking to
operators now that are getting smarter about what they're doing.
Yes. They're asking more pointed questions. The OEMs can't respond.
So now what do you do? Yeah, that's, that's the Global Blade Group.
Nicholas Gaudern: Yeah, exactly. Allen Hall: [00:04:00]
Perspective, right? Where everybody's starting to pool the
resources together. I think that's an Nicholas Gaudern: absolutely
great initiative. I mean, it's something that's been going along in
various forms for a few years now, but um, now big it has joined
Stack rt. It's kind of been relaunched in, in this new form that
you were discussing with us. So, um, we are really excited to be
part of that, I think kind of the way, uh. Our role sits within the
group. We're still working on, on the details, but we're definitely
gonna be part of that group in helping to, to share knowledge. So
the aim is that we will help, uh, educate basically to, to raise
discussion points, to, to lead forums with operators about how they
can understand their aerodynamics better, how they can ask more
relevant questions of the OEM. So I think that's what a lot this is
about, just asking the right questions. I think sometimes operators
can feel a little bit, uh, blind. Uh, as to the best way to
navigate a problem, but by knowledge sharing within the Blades
group with other forums, um, I think that's gonna make that a lot
easier for everyone. Allen Hall: And you've been tapped as
[00:05:00] the lead of the aerodynamics group within the Global
Blade Nicholas Gaudern: Group? Yes. Yep, yep, that's, that's
correct. Um, we haven't had a, a kickoff yet as such, but that will
hopefully happen in the next couple of months. But yeah, the idea
is that power curve will kind of. Lead that knowledge sharing
around the aerodynamic subject. Allen Hall: Yes. So if you haven't
joined the Global Blade Group, it's free. Yep. If you work for an
operator, you can just join it and you should. So get somebody on
your staff to sign up to get ahold of Burger and get going with
that, because then you can tap into all the resources that they
have. Them being, uh, the most recent one is the leading edge
protection campaign that was just summarized, uh, a couple of weeks
ago. So that data set is out there and you want to have access to
that. Mm-hmm. But I think more importantly, as the group goes
forward now and has been emboldened again, the aerodynamic piece is
the missing link for most operators. Yeah, it is. Nicholas Gaudern:
And it's, it's often an area that is, um, hasn't had as much
attention historically. Uh, there's just not so many engineers out
there with that background. You know, it's, um, [00:06:00] I
wouldn't say it's any more or less hard than lots of other of the
complex subjects within a wind turbine. There's just, there's fewer
people, uh, who, who know the same, uh, level of, um, stuff. Allen
Hall: Yeah. And there're being, those resources are being, uh,
taxed quite heavily at the minute, uh, with all the activity it
happen in the OEMs. Now, as operators, uh, start to receive newer
blades and you see. OEMs obviously moving to bigger turbines and to
specific models, so there's actually fewer varieties of blades than
there were a couple years ago, but there's still quite a number of
blades out there. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So you, you're going to get
generally a more generic blade type at your specific wind site?
Nicholas Gaudern: Yeah, quite possibly. Allen Hall: Yeah. I, I
think especially ge renova is, is gonna be driving down to a, a
limited set of blades and a limited set of turbines. So they're
gonna be trying to apply that turbine. More globally than they have
in the past, instead of tailoring a specific set of blades vest is,
it's gonna do something very similar, I think. Mm-hmm. Uh, and in
that mode, [00:07:00] if you're an operator and you're receiving
these blades, you don't really understand what's about to happen
unless you do your homework ahead of time. And I think that's where
the opportunity lies today to do something really inexpensive and
smart up front. To understand what's likely to happen. Yeah.
Nicholas Gaudern: Yeah, exactly. And I think that all starts with,
um, as we talked about, gathering good data, whether that be a
laser scan or detailed photographs or measurements or NDT, uh,
putting some sensors in the blade, some CMS equipment. I think all
of that stuff to help really build up that knowledge base early. To
help start planning for future o and m, uh, operations? Yeah, Allen
Hall: so the simple one as blades come on site is to do a laser
scan. Nicholas Gaudern: Mm. Yep. And that takes how long? A few
hours. And, and it's much easier on the ground than it is a tower
as well. And then you can use that full kinds of things. Yes. It's
very useful to do aerodynamic studies on. But then, uh,