In a year when climate change has never been more talked about, wind energy has emerged as Ireland’s strongest defence – with the gown Climate Action Plan placing wind at its heart – highlighting the electricity sector’s potential to save eight million tonnes more CO2 annually by 2030.
Overall winners MKO
On Friday, January 24, almost 400 people gathered in Clontarf Castle, in Dublin to honour the men and women working in the wind industry in Ireland, who are making this climate defence possible.
- 12 awards presented on the night – highlighting innovation, excellence in training, work in communities, education initiatives, health and safety and the coveted ‘Champion of Renewables award.’
- Winner of the ‘Champion of Renewables Award’ is former Director for Renewables, Energy Efficiency and Innovation at the Directorate General for Energy of the European Commission, Marie Donnelly. Marie is also Chairperson of Renewable Energy Ireland, a partnership of sustainable energy associations working collectively to support the energy transition in Ireland.
- The award for ‘Wind Energy in the Community’ was presented to Galway Wind Park (SSE / Greencoat Renewables) for their education programme which has funded 40 local students on their journey to third level (40 students in 2019).
- An ‘Exemplary Health and Safety’ award was given to Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy forward thinking mental health initiative – which aims to have mental health first aid on a par with traditional first aid and equally funded / supported.
- ‘Best Project’ of the year was given to Oweninny wind farm, a joint ESB-Bord na Móna project, in Mayo and its plans for a €3 million local visitor and community centre which will become a tourist hub for north Mayo.
- The ‘Outstanding Innovation of the Year’ was awarded to EnergyPro, which developed a machine learning tool to predict major component failures up to six months in advance, and could revolutionise predictive maintenance.
Dr David Connolly, CEO of the Irish Wind Energy Association, said: “Last year was a pivotal one for Irish wind energy. In the Climate Action Plan we have, for the first time, an all of government vision for how we can decarbonise Ireland’s electricity system.
Winner of the ‘Champion of Renewables Award’, Marie Donnelly
“Wind energy provided a record-breaking 33 per cent of Ireland’s electricity in 2019 which is one of the highest shares worldwide – in fact third just after Denmark and Uruguay. It is at the heart of the Climate Action Plan with targets set for 3.5 GW of offshore wind energy and to double our onshore wind generation capacity to more than 8 GW by 2030.
“We know our industry can deliver these targets. These awards celebrate the men and women working in the wind industry who will achieve them, who are making possible Ireland’s fight against climate change.
‘Best Project’ of the year was given to Oweninny wind farm, a joint ESB-Bord na Móna project
“Through their innovation and determination, we are seeing huge positive benefits – from investment in local communities, the thousands of people employed in our industry and in cheaper wholesale electricity prices.”
Winner of the ‘Champion of Renewables Award’ Marie Donnelly, accepting her award, explains the importance of wind energy for Ireland:
“It’s a real honour for me. I appreciate the recognition that this award implies.
ARCH – Training and Development
"And I think it’s an indication of where we are in Ireland with the energy transition. We have made great progress and we are now set to charge down the path of success here in Ireland.
"Renewable energy has come of age. The technology has matured and found its own place, costs have come down and efficiency is there. The reality of a carbon free system is in place.”
Awards come easy-breezy for Gold Standard Galway
The 174MW Galway Wind Park, co-owned by SSE Renewables and Greencoat Renewables, took home its third Irish Wind Industry Award in two years at the 2020 award ceremony.
At the Galway Wind Park Scholarship launch evening Anna and Cathal Duggan, Una McNerney and Aonghus Feeney.
Ireland’s first ever wind-powered third level scholarship was launched in 2019 and scooped the night’s opening gong for Wind Energy in the Community.
The Galway Wind Park Scholarship is designed to support students who live close to the wind park as they embark on their college education. To date, 40 students have received support from the fund.
Broadcaster and host Ivan Yates presented the award and reflecting the comments from the award judges, said: “The winner of this category has made an enormous contribution to the industry over the past number of years.
“Since 2008 it has invested over €2.5 billion in the development of sustainable energy infrastructure in Ireland.
Barry Kilcline, SSE Renewables, left, and Jamie Corcoran from Greencoat Renewables, middle, collect the Wind Energy in the Community Award for the Galway Wind Park Scholarship Fund, Ireland’s first wind-powered third level scholarship, at the Irish Wind Industry Awards.
“By setting up Ireland’s first ever wind powered scholarship they are encouraging the local community near the project to upskill themselves in areas of energy efficiency, sustainability, environmental, health, safety and social skills.”
Barry Kilcline, director of development, Ireland at SSE Renewables, said: “We’re delighted to be recognised as leaders in the wind energy community in Ireland and proud to be supporting students and the local community around Galway Wind Park.
“We’ve always aimed to have a positive and lasting impact on the communities in which we operate, and it’s great to see Galway Wind Park not only make a difference to Ireland’s climate targets but also making a genuine difference in the local area.”
Ireland’s largest wind farm, Galway Wind Park, generates enough green energy to power over 130,000 homes.
Patrick Maguire, asset manager, Greencoat Capital, said: “The aim of the Galway Wind Park Community Fund is to maximise value and impact for local communities and people in the long-term.
“The Galway Wind Park Scholarship is designed to provide third-level education opportunities for local people to gain qualifications and ultimately build strong careers.
“We are delighted that the IWEA Awards have highlighted this and we’re extremely proud to have won the Wind Energy in the Community Award.”
The Irish Wind Industry Awards, organised by the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), have been designed to recognise and celebrate companies and individuals demonstrating originality, innovation and excellence in Ireland’s wind energy sector.
Galway Wind Park has now taken three Irish Wind Industry Awards in two years, having won both Community Project of the Year and Project of the Year at the inaugural award ceremony in 2019.
Galway Wind Park became fully operational in October 2018 and is now generating enough renewable energy to power about 140,000 homes, while offsetting over 220,000 tonnes of harmful carbon emissions annually.
In addition to a multi-million-euro Community Fund, the wind park also includes the Galway Wind Way, 48km of onsite recreational walking and cycling trails, available for community members and tourists to enjoy for generations to come.
Predicting wind turbine faults up to six months early
Athy-based asset management and renewable energy data analytics company EnergyPro picked up the prestigious Outstanding Innovation award at the Irish Wind Industry Awards 2020.
Its innovative software promises major savings for windfarm owners and wind turbine maintenance companies.
The software predicts potential failures in wind turbine gearboxes, generators and other major components up to six months in advance.
This then allows turbine maintenance companies to perform simpler repairs up-tower, without requiring large cranes and significant turbine downtime.
Alternatively, if issues can’t be addressed up-tower, the advanced warning allows major component replacements to be planned for low wind periods, significantly reducing the lost revenue from a major unplanned outage.
Brian Kennedy of Electroroute, the award sponsor, also noted the particular benefit of such technology to electricity traders.
The advanced notice of potential issues allows them to trade power more effectively, thereby increasing revenue to the windfarm owner.
The technology works by creating a digital twin component model, which uses machine learning techniques to dynamically determine the appropriate operating parameters for a given component.
It does this using data such as the prevailing wind speed, turbine orientation, rotor speed, pitch settings and preceding turbine status.
The technology then issues staged alerts if the dynamically determined operating parameters are exceeded.
Ronan O’Meara of EnergyPro said: “We’re delighted to receive this award to reflect all the hard work which has gone in to developing this tool, in particular by my colleagues Simon Cooke, Michael Dowd and Lughaidh Ó Broin.
“The technology allows us to predict major component failures in advance and we’re very excited about its long-term potential, particularly when applied to offshore wind turbines.
“This tool, together with our other automated tools to identify turbine power performance issues and correct turbine contract availability, bring real financial benefits to the asset owners we work for, and we’re looking forward to rolling these tools out across other technologies.
“We’re especially delighted to have received the award from our peers in the wind industry, who recognise the value of such technology to the future of the wind industry, both in Ireland and worldwide.”
EnergyPro has been managing operational wind farms in Ireland for more than 20 years (since 1997) and specialises in using advanced data analytics techniques to increase turbine production.
EnergyPro currently manages 18 wind farms across Ireland for a variety of owners including Greencoat Capital, TD Greystone and ART Generation.
Through its asset management, data analysis and project management services, EnergyPro has worked on more than 20% of Ireland’s installed capacity.
It is now actively expanding in the UK with the recent opening of an office in Edinburgh.
RES: Providers of award-winning operation and maintenance services
RES’ wind turbine O&M team, which is based out of Kilmacrennan, near Letterkenny, won the prestigious award for Excellence in Operations and Maintenance at the award ceremony on the January 24, 2020.
The company was also shortlisted in three other categories including ‘Best Project Award’, ‘Exemplary Health & Safety Performance’ and ‘Outstanding Innovation’.
The growing team is responsible for the operations and maintenance of wind turbines for various clients across Ireland and the UK.
Brian McDaid, head of turbine O&M, said: “We are very proud to receive the award. This is fantastic recognition of our service delivery and skills we have in the team working in Donegal.
“With over 38 years’ experience, RES has a wide range of technical capabilities and expertise to provide added value to its clients, and it’s great for our team to be part of this.
“We are lucky to have the support of the wider business and to have dedicated team who achieve great things in very challenging environments on a daily basis.”
Delivering results through innovative O&M strategies
Having started in the industry as a developer of onshore wind 38 years ago, RES understands what owners want and require from their contractors and how important it is to have a trusted partner to get to the route of problems quickly - reducing lost revenue from downtime and delivering a cost-effective service.
Using artificial intelligence and specialist skills, such as those provided by their in-house analysis and optimisation team, the company has increased availability, efficiencies and produced operational savings for clients.
Their innovate O&M approach has enabled the company to significantly condense scheduled service time, focusing resource on the activity that is required to ensure scheduled services are completed within the allocated time slots. This may sound fairly standard, but asset owners and managers will tell you that this isn’t always achieved and is extremely important.
A global reach
RES is the world’s largest independent renewable energy company, active in onshore and offshore wind, solar, energy storage, transmission and distribution.
Understanding the unique needs of corporate clients, RES has secured 1GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) enabling access to energy at the lowest cost. RES employs more than 2,500 people and is active in 10 countries.
The company has also delivered more than 17GW of renewable energy projects across the globe and supports an operational asset portfolio exceeding 5.5GW worldwide for a large client base.
Alongside providing O&M and asset management services, RES has recently provided owners engineer services for Pallas II Wind Farm Co. Kerry and managed the construction of Castlecraig Wind Farm, Co Tyrone, for NTR plc. The company is also currently managing the construction of Craiggore and Evishagaran wind farms in Co Derry.
Across the island RES has developed and/or built twenty-six wind farms with a total generation capacity of nearly 360MW and manages over 200MW of wind assets
For more information on RES please visit www.res-group.com
Bord na Móna and ESB - Repowering the west
Oweninny Power DAC (a joint venture between Bord na Móna and ESB) picked up one of the marquee awards at the Irish Wind Industry Awards when it beat off stiff competition to secure the award for Best Project for Oweninny Wind Farm Phase 1.
The 29 turbine project located between Crossmolina and Bangor Erris in North Mayo is situated on cutaway peatland adjacent to the site of the former ESB power station at Bellacorrick.
Bord na Móna and ESB have a long history in the area, stretching back to the 1960s when Bord na Móna supplied milled peat to the 40MW ESB power station up to its closure in 2005.
The site also contains the country’s first commercial wind farm which commenced operations in 1992 and is still owned and operated by Bord na Móna. The Bellacorrick wind farm consists of twenty 300kW and one 450kW Nordtank turbines which has a hub height of 35m and rotor diameter of 37m.
Construction of the €170 million project commenced in 2017 with Roadbridge and Gaeltec Utilities undertaking the civil and electric balance of plant works respectively.
The headline technology for the 29 turbine project is the 3.2MW Siemens SWT-3.2-113 turbine provided by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy which utilizes direct drive technology with a hub height of 119.5m and rotor diameter of 113m.
The turbines were delivered to site along a challenging route including travelling contraflow for over 1km through Ballina town center which was greatly assisted by Mayo County Council, an Garda Síochána, local businesses and residents.
The project was funded by a consortium of banks including the European Investment Bank, AIB, BNP Paribas and MUFG and is a key component of Project Ireland 2040 which is the government’s long-term overarching strategy to make Ireland a better country for all its people.
The wind farm has been operational since mid-2019 and is currently the largest operational wind farm across the Bord na Móna and ESB fleets.
The final piece of the project, the construction of a bespoke visitor centre is ongoing and is expected to be completed in Q2 2020. The €3 million centre has been designed by John McLaughlin Architects and is being constructed by Roadbridge.
The visitor exhibition is being delivered in conjunction with visitor experience experts CHL Consulting, Tandem Design and Marcon Fit-Out. The centre will act as an advocacy hub for renewable energy along with show casing the rich industrial heritage of the two companies in the region. It is hoped that the centre will supplement the existing tourism attractions in the region.
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) scoops award thanks to health, safety and wellbeing measures
On January 24, 2020, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) was awarded the IWEA Exemplary Health and Safety award in recognition of its efforts on health, safety and wellbeing measures for employees.
SGRE Ireland managing director Robert O’Brien explains that, “it is very satisfying to receive this award on behalf of all our employees who put so much effort in making sure every one of their colleagues is safe, both physically and mentally in their work environment”.
The programme, Safety is My Choice and #HomeSafe are used by SGRE to promote the range of measures to care for its employees. These range from the zero harm measures prevalent in the workplace, to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and to the mental health programme. The mental health programme was introduced after an anonymous poll of employees indicated that this area was one that they felt needed greater focus.
While specific workplace tools can mitigate against risk exposure, mental health issues quite often may not have a single solution.
To achieve the positive outcomes for employee mental health, the company adopted a series of programmes that contribute to arming their employees with the knowledge and tools so that they can learn to look after their, and their colleagues’, mental health, thus creating a more resilient and mindful workforce. Key areas that were identified as being of concern were stress, anxiety and the timely availability of assistance.
Engagement with Mental Health Ireland provided a framework for SGRE to adapt to its own situation, and that of its employees. Countrywide workshops for employees to learn about the Five Ways to Wellbeing were announced on World Mental Health Day.
The Five Ways (Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give) training was delivered to employees by Mental Health Ireland experts and was rapidly followed by feedback sessions where the employees brainstormed further developments and adaptations.
A tangible development from one of these workshops was the company-wide adoption of Healthy Moments – periods at the beginning of meetings to reflect upon suggestions, or suggest ideas to others – to go alongside the existing Safety Moments that are part of the health and safety culture within SGRE.
In January 2020, SGRE trained 20% of employees across all levels of the business, from technicians to CEO, as Mental Health First Aiders, to recognise and deal with the early signs of stress or anxiety.
While no single measure is the ‘silver bullet’ in solving mental health issues that a diverse and dispersed workforce will encounter, there is no doubt that the formal training provided by SGRE and the employee-led innovation that has flowed from it, have contributed to the 778 days since the company last recorded a Lost Time incident or Reportable Injury in Ireland.
“We have made a real, positive difference by getting mental health issues out in the open and working together to find ways to assist," said Robert O'Brien. "Any company that believes, as we do, that employees are their greatest asset should positively consider similar measures and their positive impact on employees.”