Industry Article

Monitoring Cable Condition on

Offshore Wind Farms
Monitoring of the condition of subsea power cables on offshore wind farms is an area that is receiving
a great deal of attention in the industry, as it has significant potential to reduce O&M costs for future
installations.

The UK Government has set ambitious targets for the offshore wind industry, targeting a 25% reduction
in O&M costs by 2020 with the aim of making power generated offshore more affordable, and therefore
viable. The UKs Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published a Levelised Cost of
Electricity model which predicts the total cost of energy over the 20 year life cycle of a typical 500MW+
wind farm. The model predicted that the current cost is equivalent to 135 per MWh, and set the target
of reducing this to 100 per MWh.

The wind industry is working towards these targets in a variety of ways, and the reduction of O&M
costs will be a significant contributor to lowering CoE. Cable faults are one of the most common, and
expensive, reasons for power outages on offshore wind farms, and the cost of repairs can quickly rise
into the millions if extended delays are incurred. Cable repairs have accounted for in excess of 70% of
insurance claims made on offshore wind farms to date, and the use of monitoring systems offers the
potential to drastically reduce that figure by accurately predicting when preventative maintenance can
be carried out to avoid unplanned outage.

As wind farms grow in size and move to deeper water, this issue becomes ever more important, and a
number of new technologies are being developed with the aim of providing the monitoring capability and
the raw data necessary to implement a preventative regime.

Omnisens DITEST Monitoring Technique

Omnisens has a history of providing monitoring systems for the oil and gas industries, and has developed
DiTeSt a fiber optic distributed sensing technology which can be used to measure temperature or
strain, or both, using the same fiber optic cable.

Although the system is able to monitor both temperature and strain using the same fiber, when
installation conditions dictate, it can also measure both using separate fibers operating on the same
instrument. For temperature monitoring, the optical fiber is installed within protective loose tubing
thereby preventing strain conditions from having a significant effect on temperature measurements.
For strain monitoring, a dedicated strain sensor is required in order to transfer strain to the fiber. The
DiTeSt system has a high dynamic range and measurement performance can be maintained with

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up to 20 dB of attenuation. It also allows faster measurement through simulated Brillouin scattering
which requires less averaging than other techniques. 30km can be measured in as little as 1-2 minutes.
Longer range measurements are also possible with the technology optimal channels and modules
can be fitted to allow accurate measurements of up to 250km.

The long range distributed temperature monitoring capability of the DiTeSt system features a number
of benefits:

Continuous analysis of very small variations in temperature along the entire infrastructure.
Early detection and classification of alerts along the infrastructure.
Localization along the fiber optic with metre accuracy.
Configuration of zones with associated alarms and relays activation.
Fiber optic configuration and calibration according to installation parameters.
Data management and system interfacing.
Communication interface with third party systems such as SCADA.

HVPD Offshore High Voltage Network Monitoring System

In 2013 HVPD won a share of 2.3 million

funding awarded by the DECC for innovations
which reduce the cost of offshore wind
generation specifically to continue the
development of their Offshore High Voltage
Network Monitoring System (OHVNMS).

The integrated Offshore High Voltage

Network Monitoring System addresses the
demand for a holistic condition monitoring of
critical offshore assets and high voltage (MV
and HV) AC cable networks. The system
has been specifically developed to meet
the requirements of the offshore wind
market, and will monitor several electrical
parameters to provide an advanced warning
of insulation faults. As per the diagram, the
main monitoring hub is located in the 132 kV
Source: HVPD

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 offshore export substation; and remote monitoring units are located at strategic locations within the 33
kV turbine cable array. The OHVNMS provides an early warning system to detect incipient MV/HV
insulation faults using SMART TB3 sensors measuring partial discharge, power quality and sheath
currents. These outputs are used to direct preventative maintenance interventions to avoid unplanned
outages.

The key benefits of HVPDs system include:

Designed following consultation with the offshore renewable industry.

Suitable for offshore wind farm HV export cables and MV inter-array cables.
Monitors insulation condition throughout the cables service life.
Continuously detects several electrical parameters.
Supports conditioned-based management (CBM) of critical cable networks.

IPEC Partial Discharge Monitoring

IPECs Offshore Wind Partial Discharge System is a monitoring system designed for applications on
offshore array cables, WTG switchgear, and associated assets.

Partial discharge is an
electrical phenomenon
that occurs in high voltage
insulation, at defects or
points of electrical stress
enhancement. Under normal
working voltages, partial
discharge can initiate at weak
points in the insulation, leading
to growth of the defect and
eventual failure and insulation
breakdown. By permanently
monitoring the array cables
and connected equipment
for partial discharge, HV
faults can be avoided by
Source: IPEC
detecting defects and initiating

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preventative maintenance before they cause failure.

The sensors used to pick up partial discharge in the HV cables and associated equipment are HFCTs
(High Frequency Current Transformers). These are small split core sensors that can be easily retro-
fitted around the earth sheath of the cable, where it is terminated into the switchgear. Data from these
sensors is transmitted to a monitor in the local substation via optic fibres embedded in the HV cables.

A single ASM system, based in the site substation will monitor PD activity in up to 60 wind turbines
and connecting HV cables. The data acquired is then routinely downloaded to a central server. The
database and web server handle alarms, reporting, data access and analysis through a secure website.

IPEC say their data centre manages data from over 100 ASMs around the world, monitoring over 3,500
HV assets. The central server acquires data from the monitors every three hours then parses this into
a database, where it can be accessed by the client 24 hours per day. IPEC provides its clients with a
monthly report on the condition of the cables and switchgear being monitored, giving details of activity
detected over the period and highlighting any areas of concern.

LIOS Technology Distributed Temperature Sensing

Lios Technology has developed a distributed temperature sensing system, which has already been in
use at the DONG Energy-owned Burbo Bank wind farm off the coast of Liverpool, UK.

Distributed temperature sensing systems are optoelectronic devices which measure temperatures by
means of optical fibers functioning as linear sensors. Temperatures are recorded along the optical
sensor cable, not at specific points but as a continuous profile. This means that a high accuracy of
temperature determination can be achieved over great distances. This technology is potentially ideal
for power cable monitoring in the offshore wind industry as the optical fiber sensors are immune to
electromagnetic interference.

Single-mode fibres offer the most potential for long-range temperature monitoring as they exhibit
the lowest attenuation, are widely present for telecommunication use, and are available at low cost.
However, application of pulsed laser sensing systems is limited by the stimulated Raman-scattering
in those fibers. For the Burbo Bank Project, LIOS Technology applied a Raman-OFDR system using
peak powers of approx. 0.1W only and without duty cycle requirements. This meant that long range was
easily measureable using low modulation frequencies.

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The transmission of electrical power in the cable leads to an electrical heating of the cable conductor. The
conductor temperature is limited to approx. 90oC. Continuous distributed monitoring of the conductors
temperature along the entire cable length enables the real-time detecting of hot spot locations and
allows preventative maintenance work to be carried out, thus avoiding a thermal overload of the cable.

Summary

As the wind industry continues to develop, there are two clear, and often conflicting, trends. There is a
need to develop larger turbines which can generate power in deeper water farther out to sea. Equally,
there is a necessity to reduce the overall cost of energy significantly to make renewable energy cost-
effective in comparison to other forms of power.

One of the most pressing needs in terms of cost reduction is to lower the cost of operation and
maintenance over the lifetime of a wind farm to help lower the cost of energy. One of the biggest
contributors to O&M expenditure is repairs to power cables and this is one area that can benefit hugely
from innovation.

Condition monitoring of power cables on offshore wind farms is a sector of huge potential, and there are
several interesting technologies coming to the forefront of the market. These systems will enable wind
farm operators to accurately predict problem areas and initiate preventative action to avoid costly and
unexpected downtime.

Author: Colin Pawsey

Sources:

http://www.hvpd.co.uk/industries/renewables/
http://www.hvpd.co.uk/industries/renewables/ohvms/
http://www.ipec.co.uk/product/offshore-wind-partial-discharge-monitor/
http://www.ipec.co.uk/about-partial-discharge/
http://www.omnisens.com/ditest/3433-power-umbilical.php
http://www.lios-tech.com/Menu/Technology/Distributed+Temperature+Sensing
http://www.lios-tech.com/Menu/EN.SURE/Case+Studies/Burbo+Offshore+Windfarm+-+Distributed+Temperature+Monitori
ng+of+Long+Distance+Submarine+Ca

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