Damage Detection System Scores Funding

The Aerogenerator Project is the latest company to be awarded funding from the Supply Chain Innovation for Offshore Renewable Energy (SCORE) programme.

The Aerogenerator Project, which is developing next generation 10MW+ wind turbine technology, has been awarded a £45,000 grant to assist in the development and commercialisation of a spin out technology “Smart Structural Health Intelligence & Prognostics System” or ‘SHIPS’.

SHIPS will provide a smart damage detection system for wind turbine rotor blades. Its innovative USP is to embed sensors during manufacture, creating a smart ‘nervous system’ for each blade.

SHIPS will monitor turbine blade health in real-time and detect damage allowing for predictive rather than reactive maintenance and reduced operation in a damaged state. This system of advanced warning will be a major step forward for wind farm management, significantly increasing reliability and output and decreasing operating costs.

Currently only one other damage detection system is available which can only be fitted following blade manufacture and is of a lower resolution to SHIPS, which can detect damage earlier in more detail.

There will be global wind industry interest in SHIPS project outputs. SHIPS shares the Aerogenerator Project’s ethos of ‘Great Engineering In Britain’ with engineers from the UK, USA, China, Greece, Spain, France and Germany working on the project.

Theodore Bird, Chairman, The Aerogenerator Project, says, “Offshore there is twice the power but the energy cost of existing technologies are double if not treble onshore wind, costs which are borne by the electricity bill payer. SHIPS has potential to reduce energy costs of conventional technologies by around 7%. Applied to the Aerogenerator X we anticipate predicted cost savings in the region of 50% securing the future of offshore wind and reducing dependence on subsidies.”

Richard Salmon, project manager and business advisor for SCORE says:  “Monitoring of blade deterioration is an increasingly crucial focus for the industry and is an area where significant cost savings can be made. We are delighted that SCORE funding is able to assist in the development of this new technology which has the potential to benefit the offshore renewable energy sector dramatically.

“Projects like this truly demonstrate the level of innovation happening in the East Anglian region and SHIPS, along with many other SCORE grant recipients, has the potential to play a major role in the future of the UK’s offshore renewable sector.”

The £45k grant from SCORE will be used to commission a proof of concept demonstration; the first client has been secured pending successful trials.