GE, which launched a Digital Wind Farm ecosystem within its Onshore Wind Business in May 2015, said the system’s capabilities have the potential to be rolled out all across its onshore and offshore wind operations.
“In our Renewable Energy business, the capacity to collect, store and share large amounts of data, as well as modelling and analytical capability, is transforming an already-transformative industry.” Jérôme Pécresse , CEO of GE Renewable Energy said. “The experience of machines in the field, captured in a constant flow of data, is informing equipment design, improving operational performance and guiding maintenance planning.”
The Digital Wind Farm ecosystem optimizes turbine performance and equipment life through the use of Predix, a predictive analytics software platform. Turbines are equipped with sensors that feed into the Predix software, which allows performance monitoring from data across farms or even entire fleets. As more data is collected, the system learns over time, becoming more predictive and hence more useful in setting preventive maintenance schedules, Pécresse explained.