Denmark’s Vestas has unveiled an advanced blade anti-icing solution to boost uptime at wind power plants in cold climates.
By Vestas' calculations, its Anti-Icing System, which uses electro-thermal heating elements embedded in the laminate directly below the blade's surface to prevent ice build-up that could reduce a turbine's annual energy production (AEP), promises “a minimum of 90% production retention”.
The technology features a heating element control system with different operational modes to create the “optimal” heating level to “increase effectiveness and minimise energy consumption when a turbine is in rotation or standstill”, says Brian Daugbjerg Nielsen, senior product manager, “thereby being applicable from low to high ice severity”.
