Along the right side column of this page you will find links to the recordings.  Below are the presentations, organized by topics, with the session's speakers and  presentation descriptions. Topics include: Asset Management & Project Operations; Financing and Investment; Grid Interconnection and Transmission; Manufacturing and Supply Chain; and Market Analysis & Demand Drivers.

PRESENTATION LIST ORGANIZED BY TOPICS

Asset Management & Project Operations

What Larger Turbines Mean for O&M

The wind energy industry is trending towards larger wind turbines, with components such as wind blades becoming larger and towers much taller.  This trend allows for additional market opportunities, increased energy output, and efficiencies but how does this impact the project’s life cycle of the wind plant - construction logistics, blade failures, and component replacements?   This session will dive into the various considerations and the implications it might  have on an EHS program and the workforce, such as larger crew size and new training.   An analysis of this trend will be presented followed by an insightful discussion with owner operators.

Session Chair: Neil James, Director of Site Operations, Apex Clean Energy Inc. / O&M Committee Co-Chair

Kevin Smith, Director, Asset Management & Operating Services, DNV GL

Brian Hayes, Executive VP Asset Operations, EDP Renewables North America LLC

Chris Shugart, SVP, Operations, Pattern Energy Group LP 

Gerrud Wallaert, VP, Regional Operations, E.ON

Combining Predictive Analytics with Wind Turbine Expertise to Improve Performance

Speaker: Sandeep Gupta, CEO, Ensemble Energy Incorporated

Recent advances in data analysis methods such as machine learning and artificial intelligence have shown impressive results in many applications. In the wind industry however, experience has shown that data analysis expertise alone is not sufficient to achieve the full potential of these methods. In addition to data analysis expertise, wind turbine expertise is also required. This presentation will give several real world examples demonstrating how optimal outcomes have been achieved by combining machine learning and artificial intelligence expertise with wind turbine expertise. Examples presented will include failure prediction and prevention and energy production improvements.

A Conversation with Invenergy: Invenergy's Digital Transformation Journey to Improve Operational Efficiencies

Invenergy executive Brad Purtell, Director - Wind Operation Support will be interviewed by NarrativeWave's CEO, Benjamin Decio.

Benjamin Decio, CEO, NarrativeWave

Brad Purtell, Director, Wind Operations Support, Invenergy LLC

O&M Cost Implications for Collection System Design Decisions

Speaker: Lucas Cook, Electrical Engineer, Black & Veatch Corporation

When developing a wind project, balance of plant decisions can have a lasting impact for the life of the project. Any shortcomings in the initial design of the plant will have to be paid for in long term O&M costs. Likewise, the decision to pay more up front for better equipment may reduce long term O&M expenses. Increased capex at the start of a project can also be used to reduce the electrical losses, resulting in additional revenue over the long term. As with any project, the question that must be answered is: what will minimize the cost of energy over the life of the project? Other non-monetary (extrinsic) benefits of increased initial capex may also be important. For example, choosing better equipment that reduces down time may result in better landowner relations, employee retention, and overall reputation of the asset owner. In the following presentation, it will become apparent that owners should consider the long term effects of early capex decisions on a wind project.

Lubricant as a Component and the Importance of Filtration

Speaker: Brian Burks, Senior Application Sales Engineer, AMSOIL INC.

Real Time Power Production Potential (RTPP) By Using Machine Learning Algorithm

Speaker: Nikhil Kondabala, Manager Energy Analytics, Apex Clean Energy, Inc.

To evaluate the current operating state of the wind farm, it is important to estimate the current power production potential of the wind farm.  Several different factors influence the power of a wind turbine and not all the factors can be taken into consideration based on the current methodology. The process of improving the power production potential calculation is very technical and cannot be improved quickly over time. These challenges can be overcome by using machine learning algorithms. The ability to add an additional component and back test is significantly faster in machine learning systems. The prediction accuracy is also continuously monitored and the weights changed to optimize the algorithm performance. This study explores a test case for using machine learning methods to predict the power production potential of a wind farm and how the performance compares to traditional RTPP.

Ultracapacitors: Improving Operational Safety and Reliability in Emergency Pitch Systems

Speaker: Chuck Cook, Senior Field Applications Engineer, Maxwell Technologies, Inc.

The presentation will discuss how ultracapacitors improve operational safety and reliability of emergency wind pitch systems.  Although all components in a wind turbine must work reliably, the wind pitch system is key. It is required for optimum blade pitch control under adverse wind conditions to maintain turbine uptime. Maxwell is actively designing ultracapacitor-based energy storage solutions to enhance the reliability of electric pitch control systems, which are typically battery-based. Ultracapacitors, unlike batteries, have the ability to deliver quick bursts of power in short timeframes - an ideal function for emergency feathering control (EFC). Upon loss of main turbine power, or when high winds threaten the safety of the turbine, ultracapacitors provide the burst power needed to feather the blades to a safe position, protecting the turbine from destructive wind force.

Services of the Future

Speaker: Lauren Thirer, Services Product Line Leader, GE Onshore Wind

Picture this: a wind farm where all outages are planned, where no cranes visit after initial turbine installation, where human intervention in minimized and robots abound, and where turbines maximize farm AEP in real time, all the time. Sound far out? It’s not as far as one might think. With a combination of prognostics, diagnostics, and advanced inspections, we can predict failures before they happen, catch problems in their infancy, and solve them before they escalate into major events. With modular components, innovative repair techniques, and advanced tooling we can eliminate the need for large, ground based cranes. Instead, we can repair major components uptower, and if necessary exchange major components utilizing self-hoisting and internal cranes. With advanced algorithms we can optimize scheduling and execution of maintenance tasks for best return-to-service and minimal costs. With cutting edge robotics we can automate manual tasks like aero hardware installation, blade coatings, or tower and blade cleaning. With state of the art sensors, controls, and models, we can understand real-time environmental conditions and dynamically adjust turbine output to utilize every ounce of machine capability while optimizing farm level AEP. We can also pinpoint where a farm is losing available revenue and target farm- and turbine -specific solutions to re-capture those losses.

Reactive Power Compensation and Harmonic Resonances in Wind Power Projects

Speaker: Eric Hope, Manager, Sargent & Lundy, L.L.C.

Wind power project collector systems may consist of miles of underground cable with significant amounts of cable charging capacitance. In addition, wind project reactive power compensation systems often contain switched shunt capacitor banks. The total shunt capacitance of the collector system cables and reactive compensation system can interact with the inductance of the main collector substation transformer to cause a harmonic resonance. Harmonic resonances can result in very high harmonic voltages and currents which can lead to serious equipment damage. With FERC Order No. 827 now requiring wind projects to provide reactive power compensation, there will likely be an increased application of switched shunt capacitor banks, which will increase the risk for harmonic resonance issues. This presentation will provide background information on harmonics and harmonic resonances and will identify the unique risks of harmonic resonances in wind projects. The presentation will also describe the methodology for performing a harmonic analysis for a wind project and solutions to mitigate harmonic resonance issues.

Cybersecurity for Wind Farms: Setting the Right Culture and Avoiding Chicken Little

Speaker: Bruce Bailey, Senior Advisor, UL LLC

The electric grid with its increasingly digital and interactive attributes is enabling the economy’s transition to renewables. The connectivity of things is encouraging “smart” approaches to spark the proliferation of interconnected systems. As a recognized critical infrastructure asset, the grid requires robust physical and operational measures to ensure its reliability and security. This includes protection against cyber attacks. Like the grid, the power and information infrastructures of wind farms and their control centers are vulnerable to outages and revenue losses, data theft, physical damage, and other risks resulting from cyber attacks. Consequently they need to adopt and maintain an appropriate security culture that recognizes the sophistication of threats, including their ability to rapidly adapt to countermeasures. Guided by cybersecurity standards UL 2900 and IEC 62443, this presentation will review criteria for network-connectable products and systems associated with wind farms to assess software vulnerabilities, minimize exploitation, address known malware, review security controls, and increase security awareness. These criteria were developed with input from major stakeholders representing the Federal government, industry, and academia to elevate the security measures deployed in the critical infrastructure supply chain.

Best Practices for Accessing Plant Performance

Speaker: Stephen Lightfoote, Senior Renewable Energy Analyst, UL

The objective of the presentation is to outline, at a high level, some recommended best practices for wind plant power performance verification.  There are many aspects of the power performance of a wind plant separate from the available resource on site such as the efficiency of the wind turbines’ ability to convert resource to energy, the availability of the wind turbines and collection system, environmental losses, internal and external curtailment, and electrical losses to the point of interconnect.  By quantifying the available resource and categorizing sources of lost energy on site it is possible to comprehensively compare historical and real-time plant performance against expectations for multiple stakeholders as well as to provide actionable business intelligence to asset owners and operators.

O&M Cost Forecasting: A Rigorous Approach

Speaker: Philippe Brodeur, Team Lead, Turbine Tech IE Services, DNV GL

 O&M cost forecasting is essential in all phases of a windfarm’s lifespan: 

• Planning risk mitigation – quantify both up-side and down-side scenarios  • Evaluating O&M service contract pricing and terms – e.g. implications for liability and potential costs and value of scope limits  • Comparing O&M strategies, given the organization, project age and technology  • Differentiating windfarm plans 

Developers’ pro formas depend on forecasts to determine which wind farm designs pencil out. O&M costs are highly variable and often seen as a wildcard at these key decision points. An understanding of the many factors that influence them – including turbine model, site-conditions, project location, maintenance strategy, etc. – allows some of this uncertainty to be tamed. DNV GL’s probabilistic O&M cost model forecasts O&M costs considering all those project-specific factors. The model’s projections have been validated by comparing them to DNV GL’s database of North American wind farm operating data, which includes over 750 project-years of detailed O&M cost data from 170 wind-farms. The validation results will be presented to offer insights into the roles played by major influencing factors, and how cost forecasting can direct key strategies in a windfarm’s lifespan.

Predicting Electrical Failures in Generators Using Electrical Testing and Vibration

Speaker: David Clark, Principal, CMS WIND

Since about half of all drive train failures are located in the generator, the health of the generator is the focus of this presentation. 2/3rds of the issues are bearing related caused by three drivers. And while vibration analysis/condition monitoring (if properly configured) does provide 6+ months of lead time to these failures, electrical testing covers the remaining 1/3 of failures. Standard electrical tests usually reserved for electrical motor shops provide meaningful predictors of useable life of the insulation, resistance, partial discharge and overall electrical health of this major drive train component.

Applied Benchmarking for Informed Operational Decision Making

Speaker: Mackenzie Tocco, Project Engineer, Natural Power

While the concept of benchmarking is fairly straight forward, the application to improve wind farm operations can have intricate subtleties. Benchmarking specific key performance indicators, such as component reliability or service team response time, can provide powerful insight into wind farm operations and drive decision making from daily operations to portfolio acquisitions. Here, we examine three case studies to highlight the benefits of benchmarking of wind farms. The first reviews the application of benchmarking wind farm reliability on an industry level to inform acquisitions decisions and O&M contracts. The second examines the benefits of benchmarking wind farm performance across a portfolio to drive operational decisions such as OPEX allocations. And the third benchmarks turbines on an individual wind farm to identify performance deficiencies and drive targeted maintenance schemes.

High Efficiency Generator Step Up Transformers Can Significantly Improve Wind Farm Economics

Speaker: David Nathasingh, Global Business Development Consultant, Metglas Inc.

A Generator Step Up Transformer (GSU) is the key link between the Windmill Turbine and the Electrical Utility Grid System. Unfortunately, most Wind Farm Designers and Contractors view the GSU as just another capital expense rather than an incremental revenue generator. Choosing a high efficiency transformer, can increase both the power available for sale and the associated production tax credit (PTC). This is driven primarily by the fact that wind turbines operate at an average load of less than 40% capacity, and in many cases are idle about 15% of the time. At these turbine operating conditions, core losses in the transformer are more predominant than coil or copper losses. A high efficiency transformer tend to have lower core losses and higher copper losses when compared to a standard or lowest first cost transformer.As an example, a high efficiency 1750 kVA GSU will generate at a minimum, an additional $2000 in revenue annually at a wind energy selling price of $40/MWh. These recurring revenues will easily offset in 3 years the 10% additional cost of acquiring this transformer versus the lowest first cost one. Considering that the turbine/transformer combination has a life expectancy greater than 10 years, it would make economic sense to look at the total owning cost of the high efficiency GSU.

How to Design your Performance Upgrade Validation

Speaker: Abilash Krishnan, Technical Business Development, Arista Renewable Energies

It is quite common for owners/operators of wind farms to be approached by manufacturers regarding post-construction performance upgrades and/or retrofits to their turbines. Examples include vortex generators, nominal power boost, control algorithm optimization or blade shape modification at the root.  The promised production improvement from these upgrades can be tempting. However, payment for these upgrades is often proportional to the improvement realized with the upgrade, which is measured using a pre-decided validation method, and can go into millions of dollars depending on the size of the wind farm and the upgrade. In this context, the proper design of experiment to ensure a reliable and independent validation of the upgrades should not be overlooked. This design of experiment can be broken down into the most important factors to keep in mind, and the best practices that must be followed to safe-guard the interests of the owner/operator and the integrity of the independent validation.

Big Data Normality Models: Which Strategy Works Better?

Speaker: Christian Jourdain, Head of Marketing Services, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

Big data is discussed everywhere and key players in wind are spending billions on it, sometimes leveraging experience from other industries. As the consultancy MAKE stated in their 2016 O&M report, “fossil generation typically has an 80/20% distribution between planned and unplanned O&M expenses, while a typical wind plant is closer to 40/60%.” Big data solutions are aiming to revert this situation and lower the costs of O&M expenses, thanks to prognosis and optimum maintenance planning.

Lifetime Extension: How to Calculate Wind Farm Remaining Useful Lifetime

Speaker: Santiago Lopez, Global Director, Asset Management, UL LLC

Why is this topic so important for all stakeholders in the wind industry? Principles of the calculation : analytical & theoretical complementary approaches Required input data and process: from design & wind farm conditions to damage equivalent load and remaining useful life Importance of the uncertainty calculation Future Steps

Outcomes Over Insights: The Transformation of Wind Services

Panel on how digitally enabled services are helping asset owners achieve better performance at lower costs with reduced risk.

Moderator: Darius Snieckus, Recharge

Aaron Barr, MAKE Consulting

Alex George, Invenergy LLC

Anne McEntee, GE Renewable Energy

Closing the 60% PTC Gap

Experts will discuss finding improvements in project economics beyond scale and turbine size.

Moderator: Jeff Jackson, CEO, Mortenson Construction

Marion Hill, DNV GL

Ben Stafford, GE Renewable Energy

Ryan Brown, EDP Renewables North America

From Analytics to Action: Lessons Learned FOR Wind FROM Rail, Aviation, Mining, Construction and Agriculture

Speaker: Ryan Blitstein, VP Renewable Energy, Uptake

Big data offers the wind power industry the opportunity to unleash massive value through predictive insights and intelligent, real-time prescriptions. But wind sector leaders have yet to fully capitalize on the potential of analytics. In industries like rail, mining, and construction, iconic global companies are using analytics to move beyond simple condition monitoring to harness the full value of their internal data and expertise. These businesses are solving their most complex operational challenges by integrating data-driven insights directly into workflow across the enterprise in areas like maintenance, production forecasting, ERP, and P&L planning. As a result, executives, managers, and site-level technicians can make smarter decisions in real time, allowing these traditional industrial firms to adapt throughout their ecosystems, incorporating creativity and innovation to thrive in highly competitive environments. Uptake’s Vice President of Renewables Ryan Blitstein will share valuable lessons from its work in other areas of the industrial world, and what wind power leaders can learn from peers in other sectors.

Probabilistic Loads Assessment for Repowering & Extending the Life of Wind Turbine Foundations

Speaker: Hieu Nguyen, Senior Structual Engineer, DNV GL

In repowering, the turbine foundation can quickly become a hot topic since the foundation may not be able to meet both baseline and repowered fatigue demand under current design standards. It is difficult to determine the actual probability of structural failure, or likelihood of an issue. Hence, instead of asking the question: “What is the actual fatigue life of the foundation?”, one should ask “What is the probability that the foundation fatigue exceeds typical acceptable limits?” This paper will provide a framework for the probabilistic fatigue loads assessment of existing foundations for repowering. The probabilistic approach is suitable to determine the residual fatigue strength of the foundation by considering both the external loads and fatigue properties as random variables. The random variable models for the material fatigue parameters are developed based on as-built properties while the fatigue load distributions are developed based on site specific wind conditions. Through case studies, the paper investigates the probability of fatigue exceeding acceptable limits at critical structural components such as concrete at anchor bolt locations and vertical pullout reinforcement of typical wind turbine foundation designs. The information presented in this study will help project owners and investors know what to expect and to better understand the risk associated with repowering. The paper is to encourage a probabilistic design approach for wind turbine foundations.

Ten Major Changes to 2018 NFPA 70E

Speaker: Kyle Kirkpatrick, Director, EHS, Shermco Industries

The 2018 edition of NFPA 70E was issued in print form in October, 2017. Trying to determine what major changes to concentrate on can be difficult. This paper covers the ten most important changes that will appear in that standard. Even though the 70E does not apply specifically to utilities, its guidelines are used throughout the wind industry to protect their workers from injury. There have been major changes in areas such as the arc-rated PPE tables, new requirements in the electrical safety program and a new requirement for conformity assessments for PPE. This paper is being presented by a member of the NFPA 70E Technical Committee and, time permitting, will explain why the committee took the actions it did.

Center of Excellence: A New Learning Experience in Workforce Development

Speaker: Nol Chine, Global Training Design Manager, GE Renewable Energy

1. Center of Excellence: Concept, Mission and vision, and How to build the foundation 2. Standardization process: How are all the plants performing, Building a team, communication 3. Facilities & equipment: Identify the best set up of facilities and respect local constraints 4. Training Material: Building a sustainable process - Best in Class training materials 5. Organizational structure: Reporting lines - Job descriptions 6. How to measure the impact: Audit procedure - System 7. Branding:  Logo and corporate image - Communication 8. Continuous Improvement

Rail vs. Road: Best Practices for Planning & Executing Wind Component Transport

Speaker: Clay Gambill, Director, Wind Energy Sales, BNSF Logistics, LLC

When it comes to moving over-dimensional wind components, there are a number of logistics challenges to consider. Topics in this discussion will include: Evaluating rail, road, and water transport to find the best mode, including: • Risk • Complexity • Utilization • Regulations Mechanical, industrial, and civil engineering consideration when evaluating: • Distribution, transload, and staging sites • Fixture, fabrication, and modification needs • Route and site selection

Financing and Investment

Capturing the Power of Wind: A Corporate M&A Transactions Outlook

Speaker: Frank Palladino, Director, CohnReznick

2017 was a year of much uncertainty, but deal fundamentals combined with strong momentum won out with decade record high renewables sector M&A. Will the same trends be true for 2018 and 2019? Will there remain strong demand from strategic buyers and financial funds or will we see emergence of any additional new players? We envision this discussion being outlook oriented, incorporating case studies on notable recent transactions that will define M&A trends in 2018 and beyond. As the universe of potential project owners has expanded, renewable projects, and more importantly the teams that develop them, quickly became a scarce resource in the market. With that, we saw a boom in platform company sales and acquisitions as market participants moved quickly to secure development teams and project pipelines as a means to long term project ownership and value creation. We expect the conversation to focus on this trend and the consolidation in the wind market witnessed in 2017. Discussions of these corporate transactions, in addition to the others in the market, can lay the groundwork to examine trends in the market and movements in the M&A buyer universe.

The Changing Direction of Wind: Tax Equity Investment in 2018

Speaker: Nick Knapp, President, CohnReznick Capital

The renewable energy tax equity market has to date been in a healthy state with over 45 active providers of tax equity and new investors frequently coming to market. However, many are awaiting to see how tax reform will play out in 2018 and how it’ll effect investor trends with some key players potentially scaling down due to BEAT while others will scale up. We feel, the net effect will be neutral on investment volume available for renewable tax equity due to the influx of another 10-20 major institutional names. Those that have been in the market for some time are also becoming increasingly comfortable with evolving project risks – but what do those project risks look like in 2018? This discussion will explore a variety of innovative and approaches and trends taken up by tax equity investors in the wind sector, ranging from: (1) the reasons behind distributed generation projects continued struggle to secure tax equity; (2) avenues by which tax equity investors interested in merchant projects have successfully placed hedge agreements; and (3) the continuing role corporate purchase power agreements will play for interested tax equity investors.

M&A Activity is Transforming the Wind Industry

Speaker: Conor McKenna, Managing Director, CohnReznick

2017 brought a continued flow of mergers & acquisitions in the wind energy industry. A panel of experts has been assembled to bring insights into the range of issues that arise as a result of M&A transactions. The panel will discuss: Late 2017/ early 2018 transaction highlights 2018 outlook Buyer profile Impacts of tax reform on the M&A landscape Tax equity investor role in projects and M&A transactions Maximizing the value of projects in the current cycle

The Financing Implications of New Offtake Products (Physical and Financial)

Speaker: Ellen Balfrey, Senior Director of Finance, Apex Clean Energy Inc

As the U.S. wind industry evolves, the menu of financeable offtake options (both physical and financial) continues to expand. While this is a positive trend for the industry, it also presents new challenges for developers, investors, and lenders as they climb the learning curve on new offtake products. This presentation uses Apex’s Cotton Plains, Old Settler, and Phantom Solar projects—which were financed as a single portfolio—as a case study where several novel concepts were addressed in a single financing. 

Maximizing Value and Avoiding Technical Pitfalls in Wind Project Acquisitions

Speaker: Ken Elser, Head of Department Project Financing and M&A, DNV GL

Both buyers and sellers seek to maximize their returns through their merger and acquisition transactions. To do so requires them to tap the potential value of the wind assets, identifying and capitalizing on reasonable upside potential, as validated through a targeted technical due diligence process. Key value drivers observed in the current M&A market include the potential for extended life operation, repowering, change in operating strategy, and technology evolution, to name a few. Often, however, such opportunity is overlooked or is not substantiated by the information made available for review during a bidding or sales process. This presentation will focus on the technical basis for such value propositions for preconstruction and operating wind projects, and identify common pitfalls in the diligence process to be addressed to ensure such value can be monetized in an M&A transaction. Keys to success in this technical due diligence process will be described which can ultimately enable optimal preparation of a wind asset sale, full consideration of project value by buyers and sellers, and sound decision-making by lenders financing an acquisition.

Grid Interconnection and Transmission

Efforts to Harmonize State Policy with Wholesale Markets: Capacity Market Changes in ISO-NE and PJM

Speaker: Norman Bay, Partner, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

A divided FERC recently approved ISO-NE’s latest capacity construct, Competitive Auctions with Sponsored Policy Resources (CASPR).  In addition, on April 9, 2018, PJM filed its “jump ball” with FERC that presents FERC with two very different options:  a two-stage capacity auction or an expanded Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR-Ex).  PJM has asked for Commission action by June 29, 2018.  This discussion will explore what these controversial capacity constructs mean for the wind industry and where FERC could be headed next.

The Use of Dynamic Line Ratings in Control Rooms: The Final Step to Apply Wind-cooling Effect

Speaker: Charlton Clark, Senior Engineer, Department of Energy (DOE) 

Idaho National Laboratory offers a unique Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) tool to optimize existing power grid transmission capacity using real time weather data. Human Factors researchers have worked on integrating the tool to current utilities’ control rooms so that this technology can be safely and confidently consumed by its end users: operators.  A challenge for DLR integration is how we can best present the DLR forecast information to operators who are already monitoring massive amounts of data. Usually utilities would use line load forecasts to develop schedules and plans for power generation. An operator would trust and use a line rating forecast if it is valid and reliable. Therefore we also studied how to assist operators in planning for wind power generation with the forecast ratings based on DLR to enhance the efficiency of wind energy. After thoroughly investigating the current control rooms and operators’ performances, researchers prototyped a series of control room displays and collected feedback from operators. The designs have been modified regarding the feedback and implemented with real DLR data.

The State of Public Policy Transmission Planning and the Road Ahead

Speaker: Barry Smitherman, Principle, The University of Texas at Austin

Join this session for an in-depth discussion on the current state of public policy for transmission planning. We'll address aspects of the current process that are working well for the industry in addition to those in need of improvement.

Dynamic line rating & Transmission Capacity Forecasting to accelerate Wind Interconnection & Reduce Curtailment

Speaker: Prashanth Duvoor, Vice President, North America, Ampacimon Inc.

Delivering More Wind Over the Existing Grid

Speaker: Rob Gramlich, President, Grid Strategies LLC

With more wind going to remote areas facing costly congestion or physical curtailment, and little transmission being built, the industry needs new ways of delivering energy over existing lines. I created and manage a new coalition of technology providers to bring innovative tools to this problem and work together on regulatory policies to advance their deployment. These approaches including Dynamic Line Ratings, topology optimization, and power flow control. Some of these issues were featured in the cover story I wrote in the October issue of North American Wind Power. Three RTOs are seriously considering deploying Dynamic Line Ratings.

Frequency Control for Grid Support: International Experiences from On-shore and Off-shore Wind Farms

Speaker: Samer El-Itani, Team Leader Electrical & SCADA, Senvion USA Corp.

Senvion turbines have been operating worldwide with different Frequency Control (FC) options in both on-shore and off-shore wind farms. Throughout several grid events, this control provided valuable contribution to the key importance to the stability and recoverability of the grid following a load-generation mismatch. Real-time monitoring and disturbance recording was employed to evaluate performance, optimize turbine configuration and verify compliance with grid code requirements. The purpose of this presentation is to present the lessons learned, using field data from some of the world’s largest on-shore and off-shore wind farms. We will present and compare the performance of the different control solutions available. 

Wind power plant control topology

Speaker: Zineb Heater, Project Manager, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

The presentation will discuss the wind power plant topology control. The topology function enables operators and owners to change the plant electrical topology while maintaining plant control.

RTO Perspectives: Preparing Markets for a Future with a Growing Renewable Energy Mix

Session Chair: Kevin Gresham, VP, Government Relations and External Affairs, E.ON

Jennifer Curran, Vice President, System Planning, MISO

Ken Schuyler, Manager of Renewable Services, PJM Interconnection

Paul Suskie, Executive VP, Regulatory Policy and General Counsel, Southwest Power Pool

Analyzing Storage for Wind Integration in a Transmission-Constrained Power System

Speaker: Jennie Jorgenson, Engineer, National Renewable Energy Labo

The Department of Energy’s Wind Vision study analyzed a scenario where wind served 35% of U.S. electricity in 2050, showing potential to provide health, environmental, and economic benefits. We build on this research by simulating in high fidelity the operation of the electric power grid for the Western Interconnection under 35% wind energy, with 12% PV. We focus on the role of transmission capacity and electricity storage in integrating wind onto the grid. Specifically, we compare the efficacy of transmission and storage in reducing generating costs and wind curtailment. Further, we examine the interaction between transmission and storage, and find that they act symbiotically, meaning their combined value is greater than the sum of the parts-while both increasing the value of wind. We show that the value of storage is sensitive to the amount of available transmission capacity. Without sufficient transmission, storage’s ability to arbitrage energy is hindered by congestion. Conversely, a high amount of transmission capacity can impede storage, since a key value of storage is its ability to reduce congestion. Finally, we examine the sensitivity of storage to both power and energy capacity. These results begin to explore where and when transmission and storage might be the most valuable under a high wind future.

Developments in US Power Market Design and Impacts on Wind Energy

Speaker: Michael Goggin, Vice President, Grid Strategies LLC

With the Secretary of Energy ordering new rules on resilience and a new slate of FERC Commissioners, this presentation will inform attendees what changes to expect in power markets and how they will affect wind energy. Capacity markets have been under reform in the Northeast RTOs, opening the possibility of fixing the harm done to wind energy under the PJM Capacity Performance rules. However there are also proposals to mitigate state policies such as Renewable Portfolio Standards on which wind energy relies. Meanwhile what is needed for high penetration renewables is procuring flexibility so the system can be balanced. The presentation will discuss efforts around the country to procure flexibility. The author will draw on his previous work for PJM, FERC, and AWEA, and discuss his work recently published in Public Utilities Fortnightly, North American Wind Power, and RTO Insider.

The Story of Integrating Wind Energy in Europe and the U.S.

Industry leaders share examples of best practice of the integration of high levels of Renewable Energy into the European energy system. The panel will focus on the need for system flexibility and market design transformation in Europe whilst contrasting it with current US practices, all of which will culminate in a discussion on what opportunities and barriers currently exist in Europe and the US to allow for a high wind future.

Session Chair: Pierre Tardieu, Chief Policy Officer, WindEurope

Lindsay McQuade, Chief Executive Scottish Power Renewables, Avangrid Renewables

Alfredo Parres, Senior Vice President, ABB

Andrew Young, CEO, Innogy Renewables US LCC

Promoting New Alternatives to Transmission Construction Required to Interconnect Wind and Other Generators

Speaker: Larry Eisenstat, Partner, Crowell & Moring LLP

Interconnection studies are based on a transmission provider’s (TP) equipment ratings and tested against a set of contingencies to ensure the grid can handle a new generator’s output. Oftentimes, potential impacts are small and of limited duration, quite commonly less than 100 hours per year. Yet the generator regularly must pay millions in upgrade costs to ensure that those impacts never occur. Advancements in technology provide alternatives to building out the grid to solve every contingency that shows up in planning models or interconnection studies. These include installing storage to provide appropriate flows or counterflows during the given event, as well as other means dynamically to prevent the system from being unduly stressed by the generator’s output. While the advancements are well understood, TPs are not obligated to consider non-transmission alternatives when conducting studies. And TPs, already unaccustomed to the possibilities offered by such alternatives, tend to prefer new construction options which increase returns. It would enormously benefit the wind community if interconnection were modified to require TPs to consider all alternatives and, at the request of the generator, to include in its study report why it chose not to pursue a potentially less costly and/or quicker to implement, non-construction alternative. This could reduce interconnection costs significantly and, if used to study all transmission needs, the costs of all transmission customers.

Manufacturing and Supply Chain

The Flexible Supply Chain: A Key Competitive Edge In The Dynamic Wind Power Market

Speaker: Jamie Capstick, Senior Director, Business Development, Celestica

Demand for wind energy is growing rapidly, driven by increasing investment and lower costs. In many regions, wind and solar power are close to offering the lowest levelized cost among energy power sources. Wind power OEMs face a range of challenges as they focus on staying ahead of growing demand for wind energy. They need to build reliable products at a competitive cost, while meeting local regulatory requirements. They must plan for regional demand volatility. And they must continuously innovate.  The speaker will discuss how, in this dynamic market, OEMs are assessing their supply chains to identify core and non-core activities, and how this is fostering new supply chain and outsourcing models. The presentation will also look at how OEMs can realize for potential cost savings and rationalization while maintaining product reliability and speed to market. 

Ultra-long Wind Turbine Blades for Next Generation Wind Turbines

Speaker: Jesper Månsson, Senior Director, LM Wind Power

As wind turbines are developed for larger capacity, rotor diameter continues to increase in size. Announced next generation onshore wind turbines have blades of a length which was solely expected to be used for offshore wind turbines a few years ago, and blades for offshore wind turbines are heading towards the 100 meter range in length. Taking the next steps into ultra-long blades, new materials and design concepts are being introduced to beat the increase in blade mass and cost. Furthermore, as blade length increases additional challenges arise in manufacture, transport, handling and testing of these large blades. The latest innovations in wind turbine blade technology significantly reduce LCOE by means of a lighter and larger rotor, predictable operational expense (OPEX) through reliability-driven design and increased annual energy production (AEP) through substantial increases in blade swept area and maximization of turbine availability.. The blade structure represents a step-change through an innovative hybrid carbon technology and a Design-for-Manufacturing concept which leads to an optimal design fit for manufacturing of ultra-long blades.

Creating Supply Chain and Logistics Solutions to Meet the Challenges of Larger Wind Blades

As blades get larger manufacturers face key logistic supply chain challenges including:

• Accommodating new materials for larger Blade designs
• Larger and offshore blades
• New transportation equipment and availability
• Leveraging or modifying existing equipment design to minimize transport cost
• Logistical Challenges of Rail
• Driver shortages and training gaps

As we focus on continued reduction in LCOE for wind, it’s important to leverage established supply chains and logistics solutions to solve these critical challenges. The industry must also help facilitate new designs without the need to establish a more complex supply base and maintain existing manufacturing footprints, and logistics solutions. These actions would include working with materials suppliers as well as working with transportation and service suppliers on these breakthroughs.  

Session Chair: Jim Schimanski, VP of Global Supply Chain, TPI Composites, Inc.

Dayton Griffin, Head of Section Solar & Wind Technology, DNV GL

Maria Iredale, VP Transport, Vestas Daniel Kjaer, Martin Bencher Group

Chris Raine, Senior Director of Blade Manufacturing Engineering, TPI Composites, Inc.

Market Analysis & Demand Drivers 

Analyst Hour: U.S. Wind Market Forecast

WINDPOWER’s most attended session. Top industry consultants will present, defend, and debate their view of future market growth, providing insight into regional drivers and timing. Gain insights into market magnitude, growth opportunities in new project development; market and policy factors, including natural gas and power prices, the evolving cost of wind energy, retiring coal plants, federal tax policy, state policy, and wind turbine repowering. These industry influencing factors will all be covered to provide a clear view of the market dynamics facing the industry.

Moderator: John Hensley, Deputy Director, Industry Data & Analysis, American Wind Energy Association

Bruce Hamilton, Director, Navigant Consulting, Inc. 

Maxwell Cohen, Associate Director, IHS Markit

David Hostert, Head of Wind, Bloomberg New Energy Finance 

Dan Shreve, Partner, MAKE Consulting 

Large Wind Turbine Manufacturer Forum

Wind turbine manufacturing leaders will share insights into current company successes and challenges, domestic and global markets, and the future of the industry.   With the five-year PTC extension and phasedown in place, wind project developers acted enthusiastically in 2016 and 2017 to secure wind turbine equipment to qualify for the 100% and 80% PTC. Gain insights on how this activity fits into overall growth strategies, helping to scale up business and to capture greater market share. And in a world of falling solar costs and continued low natural gas prices, wind turbine manufacturers must continue to lower costs, pushing the limits in turbine technology, O&M, and repowering services. Learn how the top OEMs plan to compete and thrive in the next five years and beyond. Gather important market data, perspectives, and find the answers you need.

Session Chair: Jeffrey Chester, Partner Head of Renewable Energy Development and Finance, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Vikas Anand, General Manager of Onshore Wind for the Americas, GE Renewable Energy

Scott Baron, Global Product Line Director, Nordex/Acciona 

David Sale, CEO, Goldwind Americas

José Miranda, CEO, Onshore, Siemens Gamesda Renewable Energy  Josh Irwin, VP Sales, Vestas

Leading Through Wind Industry Headwinds

Speaker: Digaunto Chatterjee, Vice President, Investment Strategy, GE Capital Energy Financial Services

Perspectives on how to address the challenges facing the wind industry, including developing in high wind regions, interconnection process hurdles and rapid growth enabled by lower costs and better technology.

Doing Business in Argentina and Mexico Markets

This session looks at two rising stars in international emerging markets - Mexico and Argentina.  Mexico where new record low wind and solar prices continue to amaze – the latest auction seeing an overall price drop of nearly 40% compared to last year’s tender and about 50% compared to the first auction early last year.  The overall prices, and especially those below 2 cents have many of us scratching our heads, wondering how these projects are going to work.   

Argentina paints a similar picture with Round 1 of tenders for the RenovAr programme being massively oversubscribed, leading to the need for Round 1.5 and more recently a Round 2. The winning bidders receive 20 year dollar-denominated PPAs. For those who didn't make the cut, there will be a Round 2.5, seeking to contract another 660 MW of non-large hydro. To compete, bidders will need to cap prices for wind at $40.27/MWh, and solar PV prices can be no higher than $41.76/MWh. 

Lucas Troitino, Technical Manager, Envision Energy

Steve Sawyer, CEO, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)

International Markets: Does a Rising Tide Raise All Boats?

Session Chair: Sean Whittaker, Senior Renewable Industry Specialist, International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Steven Sawyer, CEO, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)

Robert Hornung, President, Canadian Wind Energy Association

Pierre Tardieu, Chief Policy Officer, WindEurope

Impacts of Wind Energy on Wholesale Electricity Prices, Bulk Power System Operations, and Thermal-Plant Retirements

Speaker: Ryan Wiser, Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

In this talk, we present work from Berkeley Lab that assesses the impacts of wind – among other factors, such as low natural gas prices and demand growth – on bulk power system assets, pricing, and costs.   First, we estimate the impact of wind growth on annual average wholesale electricity prices from 2008 to 2016, contrasting the impact of wind with other drivers. Second, we focus on negative wholesale prices, summarizing the prevalence of and drivers for those prices. Third, we explore the relationship between the growth of wind and retirements of fossil and nuclear plants. Analysis of wholesale prices demonstrates that the impact of wind has been limited so far. Where impacts do exists, they are mostly concentrated in areas with significant wind, solar and/or nuclear generation along with limited transmission. Similarly, there is little evidence that wind has had a widespread impact on plant retirement decisions. The impacts of wind will grow with penetration, however, requiring power system planners, operators, and regulators to develop methods to smoothly and cost-effectively manage the reliable integration of these new and growing sources of electricity supply.

Mapping the Market Potential for Behind the Meter Distributed Wind Development, in New York, Minnesota, and Colorado

Speaker: Ian Baring-Gould, Technology Deployment Manager, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Growth of the different sectors within the distributed wind market fluctuates year to year, with each market segment driven by different combinations of drivers, from policy to local power costs. Building on the U.S. Department of Energy funded Assessing the Future of Distributed Wind: Opportunities for Behind-the-Meter Projects, (Lantz et al. 2016) report, a first-of-its-kind study characterizing the potential future market for behind-the-meter, grid-connected distributed wind systems, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has gone on to develop state based market heat maps for the three states of New York, Minnesota and Colorado. The heat maps work to highlight the different geographic market areas where a combination of key siting conditions, policy, and market forces indicate that the deployment of distributed wind projects for behind the meter applications ranging from 1kW to several MW may be appropriate. This presentation will provide the results of this effort for the three states mentioned, provide a high level heat map for the nation which identifies the economic potential of almost 20GW by 2050, and then review the methodology behind the analysis. Although the direct results are applicable to only a few states, the general methodology can be used to assess other potential market focus areas.

Turning a Double Negative Into a Positive: What It Will Take To Stay Competitive In the Face of Rising Interest Rates And the Loss of the PTC

Speaker: Mark Bolinger, Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

There is strong demand for wind power at today’s low PPA prices. But in future years, the PTC phase-down and rising interest rates (from historical lows) will drive PPA prices higher, all else equal. This presentation models the relative impact of each of these drivers on PPA prices through 2024, and then uses the same model to estimate the reductions in CapEx and/or increase in capacity factor that will be needed in order to maintain PPA prices at today’s levels, despite the loss of the PTC and more-expensive debt. I begin by providing an early look at empirical trends in wind project CapEx, capacity factor, and PPA price from the DOE’s 2017 Wind Technologies Market Report (to be released in July 2018), with the purpose of establishing the baseline from which future PPA price changes are modeled. Next, I present the outlook for “all-in” debt interest rates by disaggregating them into three primary components—the base rate, the bank spread, and the swap rate—and projecting likely movements in each. Holding all other inputs constant at 2017 benchmark levels, I then use Berkeley Lab’s pro forma financial model to estimate the likely increase in PPA prices in coming years due to the loss

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