Glennmont Partners from Nuveen (Glennmont), Europe’s largest pure clean energy specialist, is working with Clir Renewables (Clir), a company dedicated to maximizing project returns from renewable energy assets, to identify wind turbine underperformance, to investigate solutions for improvement with project partners, and validate subsequent increases in operational output utilising its extensive domain expertise.
This relationship, which has seen Clir’s technology deployed on a number of onshore wind projects for the fund, has led Glennmont and Clir to work together with the aim of providing deep insights into wind farm performance, unearth ways to improve it, and drive forward as a single team to realise these gains.
As part of this collaboration, Glennmont requested Clir investigate seasonal underperformance which they first detected during an analysis of the project’s SCADA data. Clir’s in-depth analysis confirmed Glennmont’s initial findings, and outlined in detail instances of underperformance which were likely related to software changes implemented by the wind turbine original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
Clir, in tandem with Glennmont, facilitated a constructive and positive working relationship with the OEM, supporting technical analysis and commercial discussions. This ensured productive collaboration to ascertain the best solution – in this case the addition of extra vortex generators. Following the implementation of the additional vortex generators, which Clir later validated, the upgrades demonstrated a 2.9% increase in project annual energy production (AEP).
Working with Glennmont and its asset managers, Clir will monitor, optimize and report on asset performance, maximizing project returns for the client.
By using machine learning to analyze multiple data streams, including near real-time and historical SCADA data from the turbine and grid, alongside geospatial and weather records, Clir is able to pinpoint whether underperformance is due to low resource, environmental interference, or fixable technical errors. This insight can then be used to inform operations, model future revenue, and identify opportunities to negotiate existing terms on debt financing or insurance based on forecasts backed up by real project data.
David O’Hare, Director of Europe, Clir, said: “Having an opportunity to work with a firm like Glennmont is a great endorsement of the real and discernible return on investment that we can bring to investor portfolios. In our initial programme of work, we were able to determine the root cause of underperformance, which, alongside Glennmont’s proactive approach to asset management, meant that we could work with all project stakeholders to rapidly deliver a significant improvement in turbine power production.”
“With the opportunity to expand our work with Glennmont, we’re looking forward to supporting our client in its leading approach to maintaining and enhancing investor returns from renewable energy assets”
Geoff Hoffheinz, Chief Engineer, Glennmont, said: “At Glennmont, we are proud of our reputation and track record as a leading clean technology investor and asset manager. In delivering sustainable and predictable returns to our investor partners, we focus on the best decision making driven by class leading data. Partnering with Clir takes our data understanding to another level, and enables us to proactively manage our projects for maximum returns.”
“We look forward to continuing work with Clir across our projects in new territories and regions in the future.”
