US-12618394-B2 - Monitoring and control in a wind park

US12618394B2US 12618394 B2US12618394 B2US 12618394B2US-12618394-B2

Abstract

A method of controlling electrical power transported on one or more power cables of a wind park is provided. Each of the one or more power cables is configured to transport electrical power generated by one or more wind turbines comprised in the wind park. The method includes for at least one power cable of the one or more power cables monitoring one or more stress parameters indicative of stress acting on the power cable to generate a monitored stress parameter, determining, based on at least the monitored stress parameter, whether a reduction of the stress on the power cable is required, and, when the reduction is required, reducing the electrical power transported on the power cable to reduce the stress acting on the power cable.

Inventors

Johnny Soerensen

Assignees

SIEMENS GAMESA RENEWABLE ENERGY A/S

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20221109
Priority Date: 20211124

Claims (16)

1 . A method of controlling electrical power transported on one or more power cables of a wind park, wherein each of the one or more power cables is configured to transport electrical power generated by one or more wind turbines comprised in the wind park, and wherein the method comprises for at least one power cable of the one or more power cables: monitoring one or more stress parameters indicative of stress acting on the power cable to generate a monitored stress parameter, determining, based on at least the monitored stress parameter, whether a failure of the power cable is expected and whether a reduction of the stress on the power cable is required to avoid the expected failure of the power cable, and, when the reduction is required, reducing the electrical power transported on the power cable to reduce the stress acting on the power cable.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the power cable is an export cable, an inter-array cable or an infield cable.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more stress parameters comprise at least one parameter that is indicative of thermal stress on the power cable and/or at least one parameter that is indicative of mechanical stress on the power cable.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more stress parameters comprise a parameter being indicative of at least one of a bending radius of the power cable, a motion of the power cable and a temperature of the power cable.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein reducing the electrical power transported on the power cable comprises controlling one or more wind turbines by reducing their power output so the power generated by which is transported on the power cable is reduced.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the controlling of the one or more wind turbines comprises curtailing an electrical power output of at least one wind turbine of the one or more wind turbines the power generated by which is transported on the power cable.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the power cable comprises at least one fiber optic cable, and wherein the monitoring of the one or more stress parameters comprises applying an optical measuring method utilizing the at least one fiber optic cable.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises obtaining a prediction of an environmental parameter and/or an operating parameter having an influence on the stress on the power cable, and basing the determining whether the reduction of the stress is required on the prediction.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the prediction comprises a prediction of the electrical power that is transported on the power cable and/or, wherein the prediction comprises a prediction having an influence on the stress on the power cable.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein obtaining the prediction of the electrical power that is transported on the power cable comprises: obtaining meteorological data, and deriving, from the meteorological data, a prediction of the power generated by one or more wind turbines the power generated by which is transported on the power cable, and/or wherein obtaining the prediction having an influence on the stress on the power cable comprises obtaining water condition data and deriving, from the water condition data, a prediction of the power that the power cable is able to transport without failure or a risk of failure.
11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining whether the reduction of the stress on the power cable is required comprises; obtaining a threshold associated with the monitored stress parameter, and determining whether the monitored stress parameter exceeds the predetermined threshold.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more stress parameters are monitored at a plurality of positions being distributed along the power cable, and wherein each of the positions is associated with a location information, wherein the method further comprises localizing, based on the location information, a location of that section of the power cable that requires the reduction of the stress.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises; detecting based on the monitored stress parameter a fatigue of the power cable, and notifying about the fatigue before failure of the power cable.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises; detecting based on the monitored stress parameter that the power cable is detached from an attachment of the power cable, and notifying that the power cable is detached.
15 . A control system for controlling electrical power transported on one or more power cables of a wind park, wherein each of the one or more power cables is configured to transport electrical power generated by one or more wind turbines comprised in the wind park, and wherein the control system is configured to perform the methods according to claim 1 .
16 . The method of claim 5 , wherein their power output is reduced so as to maintain or reduce a temperature in the power cable.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a national stage of PCT Application No. PCT/EP2022/081251, having a filing date of Nov. 9, 2022, claiming priority to EP application Ser. No. 21/210,133.1, having a filing date of Nov. 24, 2021, the entire contents both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY The following relates to a method of controlling electrical power transported on one or more power cables of a wind park. It further relates to a computer program for performing such method and a control system configured to carry out such method. It further relates to a wind park comprising such control system. BACKGROUND For the last decades, the number of wind parks, in particular offshore wind parks, has steadily risen. The wind parks require regular observation and maintenance effort. In case of offshore wind parks, the observation and maintenance effort comprises regular cable surveys to check the condition of the power cables associated with the wind park. Maintenance operations are performed, e.g., repairs, when required by the result of the cable surveys. Still, the power cables of a wind park today often fail after only a few years of operation. The failure may for example be due to erosion or overheating. In some cases, up to 30% of all cables of a wind park have to be exchanged during the lifetime of the wind park. The exchange of a failed cable however requires high manufacturing and implementation efforts. The monetary effort associated therewith may be quantified in millions of euros. Further, the wind turbines of the wind park that are coupled to a failed cable are disconnected from the grid and, thus, cannot feed the power they generate into the grid. In order to counteract the high risk of cable failure, the power cables of a wind park are today often over dimensioned. Over-dimensioning the power cables however results necessarily in higher manufacturing and resource costs as well as implementation effort. The document US 2020/132049 A1 relates to a wind energy system including plural wind turbines connected to at least one cable network on which the electrical power of the wind turbines is transmitted. At least one control apparatus of the system controls the power that is fed into the cable network by at least one of the wind turbines by providing at least one power set point. The control apparatus includes at least one control device that determines the power set point based on a detected temperature of the cable network and a detected condition of the wind energy system. SUMMARY Accordingly, there is the need to mitigate at least some of the drawbacks mentioned above and to reduce the number of failures of power cables in a wind park. This need is met by the features of the independent claims. The dependent claims describe embodiments of the invention. An aspect relates to a method of controlling electrical power transported on one or more power cables of a wind park. Each of the one or more power cables is configured to transport electrical power generated by one or more wind turbines comprised in the wind park. In embodiments, the method comprises for at least one power cable of the one or more power cables monitoring one or more stress parameters indicative of stress acting on the power cable to generate a monitored stress parameter, determining, based on at least the monitored stress parameter, whether a reduction of the stress on the power cable is required, and, when the reduction is required, reducing the electrical power transported on the power cable to reduce the stress acting on the power cable. In an embodiment, the method may comprise determining whether a (total) failure of the power cable is expected, wherein the determining is based on at least the monitored stress parameter. Determining whether a failure is expected may include predicting or estimating the occurrence of a failure using the monitored stress parameter, e.g., by making use of a model. The determining whether the reduction of the stress on the power cable is required may be in particular a determining whether the reduction of the stress on the power cable is required in order to avoid the expected failure of the power cable. Such method may allow detecting a potential risk of a cable failure due to stress acting on the cable prior to its total failure and, further, reacting on-time in response to the detection. In response, the stress acting on the power cable is reduced and prolonged stress on a cable is avoided. For example, reducing the electrical power reduces the thermal heating of the power cable on which further stress acts and, accordingly, the risk of an overheating of the cable is reduced. This way, it is timely reacted to an expected cable failure and precautionary measures are applied before the failure occurs and, hence, the expected failure is avoided/prevented. Hence, total cable failures are avoided and the number of total cable failures in a wind pa