Professional Customers Require Professional Suppliers
For more than three decades, the Wind Energy unit of ECN (Energy research Centre of the Netherlands) has been one of the leading wind energy research institutes in Europe. Its main focus has been on long-term research, which has been mainly funded by the Dutch government and the European Union. With the growth of the wind industry, especially during the last five years, ECN Wind Energy has been approached more and more often to assist the wind industry in their developments. Wind turbine developers used ECN’s knowledge to develop their rotor blades and analyse the mechanical loads, while project developers used the unit’s knowledge of wind farm layout, stability of the electrical grid, and the development of an adequate strategy for operating and maintaining offshore wind farms. To minimise the interruption of the long-term R&D projects, and to better react to industry enquiries, ECN Wind Energy established the EWIS group (ECN Wind Industrial Support) in 2009.
By Luc Rademakers, Head of EWIS Group, ECN Wind Energy, the Netherlands .
The EWIS group was established in January 2009, and though it is a new group it is staffed with many experienced people. Over the past five years, researchers at the ECN Wind Energy unit were frequently requested to assist the wind industry with their ambitious plans to improve existing wind turbines, develop new large rotor blades, design offshore wind farm layouts, analyse grid integration aspects, and develop maintenance strategies for offshore wind farms. The ECN’s knowledge was transferred by the execution of services, by selling in-house software that had been developed using state-of-the-art knowledge, and by giving tailor-made courses. Due to the increasing demand for industrial services (which is inevitable with a worldwide growing industry) the unit faced an unhealthy balance between long-term R&D and knowledge transfer.
ECN has always been well known for its high quality scientific and technical work, and for executing and leading long-term research projects. With the increasing number of requests for industrial services, ECN concluded that both non-technical issues and response times had to be improved to better meet the demands of industry.
The EWIS Group
The EWIS group consists of young researchers, some of whom have worked at ECN for several years, and some who started in 2009. In contrast to the situation in the past the primary task of these young researchers is to provide industrial support, but only under the strict supervision of senior scientists. For the industrial services this ensures a fast response with the same high quality for which ECN is known. It has already been noticed that the long-term R&D activities of the unit have been interrupted far less frequently. The EWIS team is now a mixture of young professionals and experienced researchers. The group expects to grow to 10 full-time equivalents by the end of 2010. The group is led by Luc Rademakers, who has more than 20 years’ experience in wind energy R&D and the use of the results to provide industrial services. The group is not an independent company but a fifth group within the Wind Energy unit next to the three research groups (‘Rotor and Farm Aerodynamics’, ‘Wind Turbine Design and Control’ and ‘Operation and Condition Monitoring’), and the fourth group ‘Measurements and Experiments’, which supports the R&D groups to validate their tools and software with high quality measurements and field data.
The EWIS Market
Unlike most wind energy consultants, EWIS uses in-house developed knowledge and software only, and the focus of the EWIS group is on the high end of the market. Since EWIS is part of the entire ECN organisation, the ambition is to bring ECN’s R&D results to the market under professional conditions, rather than aiming at large amounts of routine work. As stated in the ECN mission, EWIS is obliged to maintain a healthy balance between long-term R&D and industrial services.
The market for the EWIS services, software and courses is mainly the research and development departments of rotor blade manufacturers, wind turbine manufacturers, developers of offshore wind farms, and also consultants in the wind industry who would like to use ECN’s software for their consultancy activities. There is already a worldwide market for most of EWIS’ activities, but the offshore wind development market is mainly concentrated in Northern Europe.
EWIS Services and Products
EWIS provides services and software for determining the optimal aerodynamic layout of offshore wind farms, blade design, structural analyses of wind turbines, the development of the wind turbine controller, assessing the operation and maintenance aspects of offshore wind farms, the design of the electrical grid, and environmental risk analyses. Tailor-made courses can be provided on request. In addition to the services, software and courses, EWIS also delivers products such as the offshore wind atlas and the wind power prediction tool. In the near future the number of products will increase. For instance, the developments on Fibre Optic Blade Monitoring (FOBM) and the Operation and Maintenance Cost Estimator (OMCE) are now at the demonstration level and are expected to be ready for the wind industry in 2010.
It is essential for the services, software and products of EWIS that they are all the result of ECN’s long-term research programmes. This ensures that the latest R&D insights can be used to solve the problems of the wind industry. EWIS tools incorporate the most recent knowledge and developments that have been validated by thorough measurement campaigns and field data from ECN’s own test site (EWTW).
EWIS services are not limited to the execution of analyses and simulations only; its team is used to carry out power performance, mechanical load and noise measurements in accordance with the relevant IEC standards, and to apply these to obtain the most accurate results. Furthermore, the team feeds back operational, repair and failure data and other field data to assess the O&M aspects of a wind farm, or to determine reliability figures for components.
If the customers’ problems are too complex to solve in the short term, EWIS and ECN offer the possibility of incorporating the problem in their long term R&D plans and carrying out the research in partnership: the so-called ‘special services’.
Future Expectations
As one of the leading institutes of wind energy research, ECN has established the new EWIS group to bring its R&D results to the market in a better way. The intention is that by the end of 2010 there should be about 10 ECN employees involved in EWIS activities worldwide. Meanwhile, ECN will be using 2009 to develop the non-technical aspects of the EWIS group more fully, so that EWIS can provide the high quality scientific and technical advice that ECN is well known for in a properly professional manner. From the end of 2009 on, EWIS will become the service provider to assist you in clarifying your unique problem and defining a tailor-made solution.{/access}
For more than three decades, the Wind Energy unit of ECN (Energy research Centre of the Netherlands) has been one of the leading wind energy research institutes in Europe. Its main focus has been on long-term research, which has been mainly funded by the Dutch government and the European Union. With the growth of the wind industry, especially during the last five years, ECN Wind Energy has been approached more and more often to assist the wind industry in their developments. Wind turbine developers used ECN’s knowledge to develop their rotor blades and analyse the mechanical loads, while project developers used the unit’s knowledge of wind farm layout, stability of the electrical grid, and the development of an adequate strategy for operating and maintaining offshore wind farms. To minimise the interruption of the long-term R&D projects, and to better react to industry enquiries, ECN Wind Energy established the EWIS group (ECN Wind Industrial Support) in 2009.By Luc Rademakers, Head of EWIS Group, ECN Wind Energy, the Netherlands .
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The EWIS HistoryThe EWIS group was established in January 2009, and though it is a new group it is staffed with many experienced people. Over the past five years, researchers at the ECN Wind Energy unit were frequently requested to assist the wind industry with their ambitious plans to improve existing wind turbines, develop new large rotor blades, design offshore wind farm layouts, analyse grid integration aspects, and develop maintenance strategies for offshore wind farms. The ECN’s knowledge was transferred by the execution of services, by selling in-house software that had been developed using state-of-the-art knowledge, and by giving tailor-made courses. Due to the increasing demand for industrial services (which is inevitable with a worldwide growing industry) the unit faced an unhealthy balance between long-term R&D and knowledge transfer.
ECN has always been well known for its high quality scientific and technical work, and for executing and leading long-term research projects. With the increasing number of requests for industrial services, ECN concluded that both non-technical issues and response times had to be improved to better meet the demands of industry.
The EWIS Group
The EWIS group consists of young researchers, some of whom have worked at ECN for several years, and some who started in 2009. In contrast to the situation in the past the primary task of these young researchers is to provide industrial support, but only under the strict supervision of senior scientists. For the industrial services this ensures a fast response with the same high quality for which ECN is known. It has already been noticed that the long-term R&D activities of the unit have been interrupted far less frequently. The EWIS team is now a mixture of young professionals and experienced researchers. The group expects to grow to 10 full-time equivalents by the end of 2010. The group is led by Luc Rademakers, who has more than 20 years’ experience in wind energy R&D and the use of the results to provide industrial services. The group is not an independent company but a fifth group within the Wind Energy unit next to the three research groups (‘Rotor and Farm Aerodynamics’, ‘Wind Turbine Design and Control’ and ‘Operation and Condition Monitoring’), and the fourth group ‘Measurements and Experiments’, which supports the R&D groups to validate their tools and software with high quality measurements and field data.
The EWIS Market
Unlike most wind energy consultants, EWIS uses in-house developed knowledge and software only, and the focus of the EWIS group is on the high end of the market. Since EWIS is part of the entire ECN organisation, the ambition is to bring ECN’s R&D results to the market under professional conditions, rather than aiming at large amounts of routine work. As stated in the ECN mission, EWIS is obliged to maintain a healthy balance between long-term R&D and industrial services.
The market for the EWIS services, software and courses is mainly the research and development departments of rotor blade manufacturers, wind turbine manufacturers, developers of offshore wind farms, and also consultants in the wind industry who would like to use ECN’s software for their consultancy activities. There is already a worldwide market for most of EWIS’ activities, but the offshore wind development market is mainly concentrated in Northern Europe.
EWIS Services and Products
EWIS provides services and software for determining the optimal aerodynamic layout of offshore wind farms, blade design, structural analyses of wind turbines, the development of the wind turbine controller, assessing the operation and maintenance aspects of offshore wind farms, the design of the electrical grid, and environmental risk analyses. Tailor-made courses can be provided on request. In addition to the services, software and courses, EWIS also delivers products such as the offshore wind atlas and the wind power prediction tool. In the near future the number of products will increase. For instance, the developments on Fibre Optic Blade Monitoring (FOBM) and the Operation and Maintenance Cost Estimator (OMCE) are now at the demonstration level and are expected to be ready for the wind industry in 2010.
It is essential for the services, software and products of EWIS that they are all the result of ECN’s long-term research programmes. This ensures that the latest R&D insights can be used to solve the problems of the wind industry. EWIS tools incorporate the most recent knowledge and developments that have been validated by thorough measurement campaigns and field data from ECN’s own test site (EWTW).
EWIS services are not limited to the execution of analyses and simulations only; its team is used to carry out power performance, mechanical load and noise measurements in accordance with the relevant IEC standards, and to apply these to obtain the most accurate results. Furthermore, the team feeds back operational, repair and failure data and other field data to assess the O&M aspects of a wind farm, or to determine reliability figures for components.
If the customers’ problems are too complex to solve in the short term, EWIS and ECN offer the possibility of incorporating the problem in their long term R&D plans and carrying out the research in partnership: the so-called ‘special services’.
Future Expectations
As one of the leading institutes of wind energy research, ECN has established the new EWIS group to bring its R&D results to the market in a better way. The intention is that by the end of 2010 there should be about 10 ECN employees involved in EWIS activities worldwide. Meanwhile, ECN will be using 2009 to develop the non-technical aspects of the EWIS group more fully, so that EWIS can provide the high quality scientific and technical advice that ECN is well known for in a properly professional manner. From the end of 2009 on, EWIS will become the service provider to assist you in clarifying your unique problem and defining a tailor-made solution.{/access}
