Wind Energy in Brazil
WEG Holding GmbH
Wind Power SCADA and turbine control from Bachmann
Targets for renewable energy in Brazil are very ambitious. The plan is to have a total power output of 71 GW by 2023 with a 13 GW share of newly installed wind energy. WEG, which has been active in the automation of energy systems for a long time, has now focused on the wind power market and is the only manufacturer of wind turbines in Brazil.
WEG has been active the wind energy sector since 2011 and has developed a 2.1 MW turbine together with the US company NPS (Northern Power Systems) in 2013. Since then, this turbine has become established on the Brazilian market. A Bachmann control system is used as a stand-alone turbine controller for the wind turbine automation. The turbine has a direct drive and a rotor diameter of 110 meters. It is equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous generator. Due to the directives of the Brazilian government to generate as much added value as possible in Brazil, WEG has a high vertical range of manufacturing.
This means WEG meets the requirements for »local content« with 70% of local production. »WEG is developing a 3.3 MW turbine that will be ready for the market in 2017,« says João Paulo Gualberto da Silva, director of WEG Wind Power. They are making use of the positive experience with the 2.1 MW turbine and optimizing the new turbine for the Brazilian market. This design will be developed together with NPS in the USA, who have expert knowledge in the field of turbine design and converter technology. After the successful introduction of the 2.1MW turbine, WEG went in search of a firstclass SCADA system. This they also discovered at Bachmann, who suggested their newly generated Wind Power SCADA (WPS).
Faster on the grid
The WPS SCADA system monitors 12 turbines and a central main station for communication with the operating companies. The structuring enables a hierarchical display with views on national level and park level, down to a detailed display of turbine status and analysis. Based on a standardized data structure according to IEC 61400-25 with an OPC UA interface, all information for the data history is stored on a central SCADA server. This provides the operating company with extensive reports about performance data, availabilities and statistics. Target and actual values for adjusting active and reactive power are transferred by the integrated main station and exchanged via the DNP3 protocol. Power curves or wind distribution data are available for an in-depth analysis and can be shown as charts or graphical presentations. As WPS is based on HTML5, this ensures the integration of a modern basis for web technology. Together with scalable vector graphics, all pages can be shown on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.
Joint cooperation
The implementing of the park at the border with Uruguay was assisted by Bachmann engineers. Project manager Aldo Marcelo Bravo Vacaflores and his team did a good job and were also supported by NPS from Vermont,USA. »All companies involved from USA, Brazil and Germany have put the overall »wind farm« system into operation in a joint effort using modern Internet based tools, that allow implementation across continents. The control systems and software solutions supplied by Bachmann made this success possible,« concludes Aldo Bravo Vacaflores, head of Operation and Maintenance.
From left to right:
WPS country view, park view, statistics, status and band width view.
