ONYX InSight Keeps Watch on Blyth Demo

Predictive analytics provider ONYX InSight has signed a contract with EDF Renewables to provide predictive maintenance services at the Blyth Offshore Demonstrator wind farm.

The contract will see ONYX InSight monitor the project’s five 8.3MW MHI Vestas V164 wind turbines throughout the first three years of their operation.

Fraser Morris, Business Development Manager at ONYX InSight, said: “Turbines of this size will soon become the standard in offshore wind, which means operators need to have a good understanding of how they perform. With energy production on this scale, the stakes are inevitably raised, and the business case for investing in robust and accurate predictive analytics is clear.”

This increase in scale brings with it increased complexity. With the contribution of each individual turbine to overall generation growing, any downtime has a greater proportional impact on production and revenues. This means that it is crucial to stay on top of performance, and effective predictive analytics is necessary to mitigate the risk of costly equipment failure and other interruptions, the company said.

There are, in turn, challenges involved in monitoring such large machines. With a high number and great variety of sensors on the MHI Vestas V164, the sheer volume of SCADA and condition data produced places unprecedented demands on monitoring systems.

“The ability of a predictive maintenance platform to handle large quantities of data – from a diverse range of sensors – will be a key differentiator when it comes to mitigating the risk of downtime for these 8MW+ machines over the long term,” said Morris.

At Blyth, ONYX InSight is using Fleet Monitor – a technology-agnostic predictive analytics platform that pulls data from all of these sensors into one place. Fleet Monitor will enable effective monitoring and analysis of all sensor data, to keep tabs on turbine condition and performance for EDF Renewables. In turn, ONYX InSight’s monitoring team will detect, diagnose and mitigate failures before they occur.

The 41.5MW Blyth Offshore Demonstrator wind farm was officially inaugurated in June 2018.