Overview
Clir's String Outage detector leverages string topology information and event data to identify turbines that are down due to a full or partial string outage and creates "string outage" events with status code -12.
These events:
Identify periods where turbines are down due to a string outage and labels them correctly.
Quantify the lost energy associated with string outages, and
Allow string outages to be reported on accurately.
How should -12 string outage events be used?
Typically when string outages occur, SCADA systems do not categorize these outages correctly often assigning other status codes or event labels to the outage. This leads to these outages being misidentified and potential missed during reporting.
String outages can be due to various reasons, such as:
Electrical faults in the circuit connecting the turbines.
Maintenance work requiring the temporary shutdown of the string.
Failure of a component within the string, such as a transformer or feeder line.
External factors like grid issues or extreme weather conditions.
A string outage can lead to a significant reduction in power generation from the wind farm, depending on how many turbines are in the affected string and how many strings are impacted. For example, in the case of a farm experiencing lower wind speeds and therefore lower production and revenue. If a string outage also occurs during this period, the additional hit on revenues could lead to cash flow issues. If owners get an early warning of the string outage, this gives time to put financial provisions in place to ride out any potential cash flow issues.
Status Code Details
Event Type | Synthetic. Generated by Clir. |
Main Status | -12 |
Main Status Description |
|
Sub Status(s) | 1, 2 |
IEC categorie(s) | Out of Electrical Specification - Balance of Plant |
How does it work?
A -12_1 full string outage event is labelled when all turbines on that string have a BoP or forced outage status code active concurrently. The IECs that designate a BoP/forced outage event are
Forced Outage
Scheduled Maintenance - Balance of Plant
Planned Corrective Action - Balance of Plant
Suspected Shutdown
Out of Electrical Specification - Balance of Plan
t
A -12_2 partial string outage event is labelled when a subset of the turbines have a BoP/forced outage status code active concurrently on a string. It must satisfy the condition that all turbines between the end of the string and the last available turbine are off.