US outfit Emerson has formed an alliance with compatriot company Vayu to provide automation technology solutions for wind farms in the US, Caribbean and Europe.
The three-year collaboration will combine the power applications and networking capabilities of Emerson’s Ovation automation platform with Vayu’s cloud-computing wind energy optimisation technology.
Vayu said it has identified more than $500m in revenue opportunities from just a fraction of the approximately 450 wind farms in the US.
Emerson power and water business president Bob Yeager said: “Combining the respective strengths of Emerson and Vayu creates a first-of-its-kind, intelligent solution for wind farm optimisation.
“This initiative will help wind energy producers maximize their aggregate power output, achieve their financial objectives and deliver more clean power to their communities.”
The partners said they can also help US wind farm owners take advantage of federal production tax credits awarded for increasing electricity output of existing turbines.
Vayu chief executive Jim Kiles said: “Instead of embarking on full-scale repowering projects that can cost millions, wind farm owners can make a small investment in this integrated solution to boost power production and qualify for the tax credit.”
Emerson and Vayu said their solution leverages data and machine learning to enable turbines to work cooperatively, adjusting the side-to-side movement of each turbine based on wind speed, direction and other parameters to extract the optimum energy.
Emerson’s Ovation controller will communicate data from each turbine’s wind sensor to the Vayu system every one to two seconds.
“This near-real-time data enables a more accurate calculation of the optimum setting for each turbine,” the partners said.