Project Overview

NIMO project seeks to largely eliminate catastrophic failures and minimise the need for corrective maintenance by developing and successfully implementing an integrated condition monitoring system for the continuous evaluation of wind turbines. NIMO will advance existing state-of-the-art condition monitoring technology used in wind turbines by delivering an advanced system which will be able to reliably evaluate the condition of critical structural components, rotating parts and braking mechanisms.

The EU Commission has set new growth targets for the wind power generation industry as part of the plan for the decarbonisation of the European economy during the next few decades through the increasing utilisation of renewable sources of energy. As a result, wind farms are predicted to see an unprecedented increase in numbers with thousands of MW-rated wind turbines planned for construction both onshore and offshore across the continent.

Nonetheless, reliability aspects of wind power generation have always been a fundamental obstacle in consolidating industrial and societal confidence in wind energy’s potential to replace conventional power sources based on the use of fossil fuels as well as a realistic alternative capable of addressing the looming energy crisis.

At the moment wind turbine manufacturers and operators are faced with substantial operational costs largely due to the amount of corrective maintenance that needs to be carried out every year resulting from the unexpected failure of various critical turbine components. The ever rising number of the wind turbines themselves increases the likelihood of a failure and makes efficient maintenance planning more and more difficult due to the lack of qualified maintenance personnel and the limited financial resources available to wind farm operators. The growing size of wind turbines also means more complex and time consuming maintenance and inspection procedures which are not easy to carry out.
Objectives: To overcome the limitations of current inspection procedures.
To implement an advanced SCADA system where data from the NIMO sensing modules will be logged, processed and interpreted giving an accurate picture of the condition of individual wind turbines.
To achieve a 90% reduction in the current levels of corrective maintenance and optimise preventive and planned.
To decrease inspection times by up to 75%.
To contribute to the integration of large wind farms in the electricity grid by increasing wind turbine availability and reducing down times.

For more information please visit www.nimoproject.eu