At extreme icing sites, the energy consumption of blade heating is not negligible and blade heating systems could be sometimes used at half power to save energy, or have an optimized, low-power, anti-icing mode, says René Lemoine, Swiss Winds Developments. Learn more here. Wind Energy IQ conducted an exclusive interview with Rene Lemoine on how to cope with icing events, ice assessment and the potential for cost savings during operation. Read it here: http://bit.ly/SlideshareWTLemoineQnA

1. Swiss Winds Development on how to
cope with icing events
Expert Interview
www.anti-icing-wind-turbines.com

2. IQPC: You are Project manager
- wind farm development at
Swisswinds Development.
Can you give us some more
information of your background
and your current project?
René Lemoine: I am physicist
and worked before at the Royal
Meteorological institute in
Brussels.
After 10 years at this institute I
left for a new job as consultant in
renewable energies and energy
efficiency in buildings. I quickly
specialised in wind energy. Four
year ago, I started this job as
project manager at Swisswinds
Development in Switzerland.
At Swisswinds, we develop
several alpine wind farm projects,
mostly in Canton Wallis. The best
example is the Gries wind farm,
where a first wind turbine was built
in 2011 at 2.400m altitude. Three
additional wind turbines were just
granted building permits and will
be erected next year.
IQPC: Which improvements
do we need – in your opinion
– to assess icing risks in the
resource assessment phase
towards a more bankable
project?
RenéLemoine:Energylossesdue
to icing are very hard to estimate.
The link between measured/
observed icing and energy losses
depends on so many parameters.
The resource assessment should
at least be able to tell you if you
need de-icing, if you need a de-
icing system that runs during
operation, or even a system that
does anti-icing (preventive).
This way you can chose your
strategy: estimate energy losses if
they are moderate, or fight losses
with the right technology if losses
are too large.
The resource assessment should
at least tell you which way you
should go.
www.anti-icing-wind-turbines.com
RenéLemoineisProjectManagerWindFarmDevelopmentatSwissWindsDevelopmentinSwitzerland,
and will present on the lessons learnt operating in cold climates at the Gries alpine wind farm at this
year’s international conference Anti-icing for Wind Turbines.
Before the event takes place 06 - 07 May 2015 in Hamburg, Germany, we had the chance to talk to
René Lemoine about needed improvements to assess icing risks in the resource assessment phase
towards a more bankable project, and about the potential to save costs during operation. Read the
full interview with our speaker here!