Multinational company GE announced the launch of its new Digital Wind Farm on Tuesday, “a dynamic, connected, and adaptable wind energy ecosystem” intended to boost a wind farm’s energy production by 20%.
According to GE, the Digital Wind Farm makes use of the industrial internet “to address a long-standing need for greater flexbility in renewable power.
“Every business — including our own at GE — and every industry is being transformed by smarter digital technologies, and the greatest opportunity lies in energy,” said Steve Bolze, president and CEO of GE Power & Water. “The question is not whether to start down this path … it’s about knowing how to get the most out of your digital transformation. That’s what will separate industry leaders from those left behind.”
The Digital Wind Farm is based around GE’s new generation of Brilliant wind turbines, a 2 MW platform which utilises a digital twin modelling system to generate power at peak efficiency based on the location of the turbine. The technology has the chance to increase energy production by up to 20%, and could help generate up to an estimated $50 billion of value for the wind industry (based on all wind farms in the world using the latest GE turbines and technology). On top of that, each turbine is connected to an advanced network which allows for real-time contact and monitoring, allowing operators to make adjustments to boost efficiency.
Naturally, with more data and more turbines producing more data, the system can become more advanced and intelligent, leading to increased efficiency.
“GE’s focus on life-cycle operations is consistent with the way we operate our wind farms,” said Michael Polsky, president and CEO of leading energy company Invenergy. “We look forward to working together with GE’s Digital Wind Farm to unlock even more long-term value across our fleet.”
“Big data is worthless without the insight to take action, and our vision for the industry is to use today’s data to predict tomorrow’s outcomes,” added Bolze. “By harnessing the full power of the Industrial Internet, we can create a world where wind farms learn, adapt and perform better tomorrow than they do today.”
Source: CleanTechnica. Reproduced with permission.
