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Getting an annual medical check-up can be challenging during a busy work schedule, a challenge not exclusive to humans but also applicable to wind turbines. In addressing this, RWE, DTU Wind and Energy Systems, and Quali Drone collaborated on a cutting-edge solution. They integrated new drone technology with artificial intelligence (AI) to inspect sea-based wind turbine blades, even while they are in motion.
Traditionally, rotor blades undergo manual inspections, necessitating crews to travel to offshore wind farms by vessel. During these inspections, turbines must be halted as technicians assess the blade’s condition. Consequently, there’s a period when the turbine cannot contribute to clean energy production, impacting both the climate and the operator.
In the AQUADA-GO innovation project, collaborators aim to develop groundbreaking technology for the automated inspection of offshore wind turbine blades. RWE, a global leader in renewable energy, collaborates with researchers from DTU Wind and Energy Systems, the Danish start-up Quali Drone, and Energy Cluster Denmark, the project’s facilitator.
Nils Leseberg, CEO of RWE Renewables Denmark, explains: “As a leading wind farm operator, RWE is constantly looking for new technologies and solutions that can increase the efficiency and safety of our assets, and help us produce even more green electricity. We need to be able to monitor the condition of rotor blades without stopping the turbine and to continuously perform an advanced data analysis to better understand how to organise the maintenance and repair of our assets. AQUADA-GO is therefore an important project that can simplify a wide range of processes and thereby increase both employee safety and the production of green electricity. We are looking forward to testing the innovative technology at the Danish offshore wind farm Rødsand 2.”
Funded by the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP) until 2025, AQUADA-GO has achieved significant progress. The partners have successfully created algorithms enabling the drone to detect surface damage and potential fractures beneath wind turbine blades. Equipped with a thermal camera, the drone innovatively scans subsurface layers for damage, a capability beyond the scope of traditional manual inspections in the industry.
The subsequent phase involves on-land testing of the drone technology to validate its ability to track rotating blades. Following successful on-land trials, the technology will undergo offshore testing at the Rødsand 2 offshore wind farm, operated by RWE since 2010, situated south of the Danish Island of Lolland.
The project’s conception traces back to DTU Wind and Energy Systems, where scientific articles on the AQUADA technology have been previously published. The addition of “GO” to the project title signifies the transition of the work from the laboratory at DTU to real-world industrial environments.
Nils Leseberg, CEO of RWE Renewables Denmark, said, “As a leading wind farm operator, RWE is constantly looking for new technologies and solutions that can increase the efficiency and safety of our assets, and help us produce even more green electricity. We need to be able to monitor the condition of rotor blades without stopping the turbine and to continuously perform an advanced data analysis to better understand how to organise the maintenance and repair of our assets. AQUADA-GO is therefore an important project that can simplify a wide range of processes and thereby increase both employee safety and the production of green electricity. We are looking forward to testing the innovative technology at the Danish offshore wind farm Rødsand 2.”
“For us, the project is about changing the whole perception of how to inspect wind turbine blades. We expect that artificial intelligence and drones can prevent the need for downtime of the turbines, by fully automating the inspection. This means greener energy for the benefit of the climate and less ships with technicians needing to be sent offshore. It’s a complex task, but we expect to solve it through this project, and we anticipate that the demand for our concept will be very high,” added Jesper Smit, CEO of Quali Drone, the supplier of the drone hardware in the innovation research project.
“We’ve already processed a lot of data from project partners and will look at even more when we get the opportunity to test the technology on real wind turbine blades. In this project, we develop cutting-edge deep learning algorithms and computer vision technologies while utilizing our in-depth understanding of blade damage based on thermal-mechanical modelling. We expect the project to make a huge difference to the industry; for example, we will be able to save at least 50% of the cost of inspections in the future. This will create significant carbon reductions for the wind industry’s inspection work and will also generate business for the farm owners and Quali Drone, which is commercialising the solution. We are proud to see that our research can make a real difference, and we look forward to further innovation collaboration with the partners,” noted Xiao Chen, Associate Professor at DTU Wind and Energy Systems and Technical Project Manager for the AQUADA-GO innovation project.
