CMScore Installed at Schönerlinde Wind Farm

Schönerlinde is just a few minutes away from Berlin via the A10 heading north. Schönerlinde has been closely integrated into the capital’s infrastructure for decades. Right next to the highway is the Gewerbegebiet Süd, whose defining feature is the Berlin-Nord wastewater treatment plant. The area is home to several energy generation facilities, including a small wind farm with wind turbines from Südwind (Nordex) and Eno Energy.

The technical operations manager at Jetstream Bosse and the company e.disNatur Erneuerbare Energien GmbH enlisted the services of Bachmann Monitoring GmbH to modernize the condition monitoring system for the 1.5 MW S70 wind turbines operated by RWE. They chose CMScore, Bachmann's cost-effective condition monitoring solution.

Wind turbines such as the S70 particularly benefit from CMScore integration. The S70 was introduced in the early 2000s and is widely used in Germany. As the turbines age, wear-related changes in the drivetrain become more prevalent, particularly in the gearboxes and bearings. Signs of damage include gear tooth and rolling bearing raceway damage, generator coupling imbalances and misalignment, and mechanical and electrical generator abnormalities.

Many relevant failure frequencies that can be detected using vibration-based powertrain condition monitoring require high-frequency measurements, which are difficult to capture, particularly with condition monitoring systems that use MEMS sensors.

CMScore uses proven IEPE accelerometers and processes their signals at sampling rates of up to 25.6 kHz. This improves data quality, especially for slow-rotating powertrain components. High signal quality and reliable diagnostics enable the early detection of changes in condition, significantly reducing unplanned downtime.

This situation is by no means uncommon. In Europe’s established onshore wind markets, many turbines from the initial expansion phase are currently in operation, often exceeding 20 years of age with capacities below 2 MW. Cost-effective retrofit solutions are therefore becoming increasingly important for these existing turbines to ensure their continued economic operation.

When repowering, operators have the option of replacing their old turbines with new ones. However, depending on the project's scope and local permitting requirements, building a new plant can take a long time. This results in a significant loss of revenue, especially when replacing an older plant. At the same time, continuing to operate an older plant poses an economic risk because its revenue is comparatively low once EEG feed-in tariffs expire and outages become more likely as the plant ages.

Therefore, operators of older wind turbines often turn to retrofit solutions designed to detect critical drivetrain damage early on. Since these turbines often generate low yields, operators must minimize investment costs to ensure a rapid return on investment. These turbines require high-quality solutions at affordable prices. Bachmann Monitoring GmbH developed its affordable CMScore solution specifically for these turbines. Depending on the application, the solution amortizes within one to three years.

The existing condition monitoring system used in the Südwind S70 turbines in Schönerlinde was installed in 2007. It no longer met the requirements for cost-effective continued operation in terms of performance and availability. CMScore replaced the unreliable and underperforming data analysis unit without replacing the sensors on the turbines. This common retrofit strategy reduces expenses even further.

Compared to the previous system, CMScore provides significantly more diagnostic information using the same sensor technology and enables the standardization of condition monitoring across all Bachmann-monitored systems. More powerful signal processing and centralized analysis in the WebLog Suite make this possible, allowing for in-depth condition monitoring of individual powertrain components.

The WebLog Suite can also process data from third-party systems. This provides operators with a unified interface for data from all systems. This is particularly important for mixed fleets.