Why there’s global interest in SA-designed wind farm listening device to be tested in Snowtown this week
AN innovative home-grown plan to remotely monitor in real time the state’s wind turbines for any faults will be put to the test this week – and there’s interest in the results more than 15,500km away.
AN innovative home-grown plan to remotely monitor in real time the state’s wind turbines for any faults or breakdowns will be put to the test this week.
Two South Australian start-ups have partnered to create the wind farm listening device which could save the industry significantly in terms of maintenance costs.
Adelaide-based telecommunications service provider Myriota, which specialises in getting data out of remote areas, is working with acoustic experts Ping.services on the project.
The technology will be trialled in the state’s mid-north from today.
Ping CEO Matthew Stead described the merger as an “exciting partnership”.
“We are beginning field tests for our first set of devices at the Snowtown wind farm … and are set to have commercial units available for use at the start of 2019,” he said.
“Ping.services has recently met with two of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturers at their head offices in Denmark … (they) showed considerable interest in the system.”
Myriota CEO Alex Grant says the marriage of the specialist areas makes good sense and grew from a chance introduction by SA engineering consultancy Resonate Consultants at last year’s Telstra Business Awards.
“It is necessary for wind farm owners to keep a close eye on their wind turbines to identify when a fault or damage occurs,” Dr Grant said.
“Ping.services have some really clever technology (which allows) an acoustic analysis of the turn turbine to provide information around the health of the equipment – by measuring acoustic signatures, (the) technology is able to record turbine damage and then advise turbine owners.
“This is really important in terms of maintenance and reducing the risk of damage to the turbine and lowering maintenance costs.”
The expertise of Myriota, described as a “global leader in nanosatellite Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, lies in transmitting data from remote locations back to home base.
“Myriota connects huge populations of long battery life IoT devices by sending small packets of data at an ultra low cost, from any location worldwide,” Dr Grant said.
“(So these) two technologies together provide a complete solution for monitoring wind farms.”
There are about 80 wind farms across Australia – 20 of those in SA – and the industry maintenance bill is put at $5 billion annually.
“The application of Ping.services’ innovative monitoring solution combined with Myriota’s unique, low cost application of IoT devices will no doubt reduce the time turbine owners spend manually checking their products,” Dr Grant said.
“With many wind farms located in areas with little or no connectivity, our monitoring solution allows companies to easily monitor their assets, regardless of location.”
The partnership news comes as Myriota raised US $15.6 million in Series A funding from investors including Boeing Horizon X Ventures, Singtel Innov8, Main Sequence Ventures and Right Click Capital, in March this year.