« Ingrid Control was the only solution that made it possible to retrieve all site data (Substation and wind turbines) as well as the Grid Operator’s status from a single interface. »
About Eurowatt
The Eurowatt Group is an independent producer of electricity from renewable energy sources.
A recognized player in France and Europe, the group oversees all phases of a project and masters all aspects of wind energy: Development, Construction, and Operation.
With over 10 years of experience, Eurowatt is now among the top fifteen wind park producers in France, with over 170 authorized wind turbines (380 MW) and 108 in operation (222 MW).
What were the issues that led you to consider the use of this solution?
“The issues were multiple and of various natures: the obligation to integrate the DEIE from ENEDIS, the lack of responsiveness and the cost of human interventions to restore the stations after the main protection was triggered, difficulties in quickly identifying the origin of malfunctions at the machine, Substation, or ENEDIS network level, the multiplication of SCADA interfaces for machines and Substation, the absence of a mechanism to anticipate the retrieval and verification of metering data, and finally, the need for equipment that can adapt to regulatory changes,” details Vincent Swaenepoel, Head of the Electrical and Maintenance Department at the Eurowatt Group.
What, in your opinion, are the three most relevant key features of Ingrid Control?
“We currently have about twenty people, ranging from site operators to operations managers, using the tool. Besides the user-friendly interface, the most commonly appreciated features are:
1/ The simple and fast visualization of the states of the power plant equipment (Substation and wind turbines), the DEIE, and the ENEDIS network, all on a single interface.
2/ Sending alerts in case of shutdown or limitation of the power plant.
3/ Archiving all measurements and commands transmitted to the power plant.”
Can you provide us with some benefits associated with the use of the solution?
“We analyzed the events that occurred in our parks during the first half of 2020 and identified and assessed 5 use cases out of 15. The valuation of these 5 use cases represents an amount of €145k/year, corresponding to avoided production losses and/or salary costs.
From an operational perspective, we have significantly reduced the time to diagnose malfunctions in the installations. Remote or automated rearming of the protection at the point of delivery no longer requires systematically dispatching 2 technicians to the site. To provide a rough estimate, it is interesting to note that production losses from a one-day shutdown of a site can amount to around €4,000-5,000/day.
Furthermore, the data collected by Ingrid Control enables new discussions and exploration of new topics with our service providers: indicators on the wear and tear of HTA equipment (number of operations), monitoring of the quality of the ENEDIS network (number of unplanned outages), control of park production (electrical losses between the machines and the Substation, verification of production data transmitted by ENEDIS) as well as their consumption (tracking over time of variations in machine consumption when they are not producing).”
Have these benefits allowed you to develop new tasks or services?
“Yes, indeed, the deployment of Ingrid Control in our parks has facilitated the internalization of maintenance for Substation infrastructures and intra-park networks. Our site operators are now trained in various equipment at a delivery point as well as in Ingrid Control, which has become our unique operations management interface. We are now eager to use the new web interface of Ingrid Control (ICW), which promises to make our lives easier with new services related to electricity sales on the market and production flexibility,” concludes Vincent Swaenepoel.
To discover Eurowatt and its missions, visit their website: https://eurowatt-group.com/