Work has begun to extend the life of one of the UK’s oldest windfarms.
Four turbines at Haverigg airfield were erected in 1988 – the second commercial wind farm in the UK. They were replaced in In 2005 and permission to extend the life of the four turbines beyond 2025 was granted in October 2020.
ONYX Insight, a digital and engineering solutions provider, has partnered with UK wind energy pioneer Windcluster in the project.
The five-year partnership has seen ONYX Insight install a system to monitor the condition of the turbines at Windcluster Haverigg III.
By retrofitting vibration and oil monitoring systems to the wind turbines at Haverigg III, a complete picture of the condition of each wind turbine and its oil health will be provided.
Colin Palmer, the founder of Windcluster, said: “We are delighted to have developed a life extension strategy which will keep the turbines spinning at one of the UK’s oldest commercial wind projects. To do this, it has been critical to gain a better understanding of our turbines.
“We chose ONYX Insight because we wanted a credible and innovative partner. ONYX has offered a flexible approach to enable us to maximise our investment and has already shown great value. Digitalising our turbines during this next phase of their operational life is going to be key in ensuring they generate power at full capacity.
We will be using the vibration and oil monitoring data analysis and reporting by ONYX to ensure we can extend the life of our assets to 2040. We look forward to ONYX Insight’s continued support in this endeavour.”
Keiran Knowles, business development manager – UK & Northern Europe, ONYX Insight, said: “We are incredibly proud to be working with the team at Windcluster to extend the life of these veteran wind turbines and to keep them producing clean renewable energy for another 19 years!
“Across northern Europe thousands of wind projects are coming to the end of their operational life, and will need to either be repowered, undergo life extension or be decommissioned.”
