Wind farm monitoring system and availability
A Gateway brings turbine states, feeder measurements, the point of common coupling and dispatch limits into one time-aligned operating record without adding another control path.
- Measure
- Turbine and feeder output, point-of-common-coupling exchange, operating states, active limits, alarms and auxiliary demand
- Calculate
- Technical availability, grid-driven reduction, equipment faults and unallocated electrical losses as separate evidence categories
- Sensors
- ZMB-31, reads documented, approved Modbus RTU registers where a plant data interface is available Modbus Interface datasheet
- On site
- ZGW-20 Gateway, keeps the operational record in Edge and exports agreed data to the owner's platform Gateway datasheet
Low output needs a cause and a boundary
A low point-of-common-coupling value does not show whether wind was unavailable, a turbine was faulted, the plant controller applied a limit, the network operator issued a reduction or electrical losses increased. Retain the measured result with turbine states, active limits, alarms and timestamps before assigning lost production.
Hardware for wind farm operational monitoring
Use approved plant interfaces at turbine, feeder and connection level. Add independent EpiSensor metering only on suitable low-voltage auxiliary circuits; medium-voltage and settlement boundaries retain their engineered meters and instrument transformers.
Keeps the time-aligned operational record in Edge, applies data-quality rules and exports agreed observations
1 per site or acquisition zone up to 250 wireless devices
Only with an approved register map, address plan and available single-master RS-485 bus
Reads approved turbine, feeder, meteorological or plant-controller registers on an available Modbus RTU bus
1 per available bus up to 30 registers
Modbus RTU over RS-485, function codes 1 to 6, 15 and 16; it is not a transparent gateway
For suitable low-voltage circuits only
Independent measurement of substation, heating, lighting or service demand on a suitable LV circuit
1 per required LV auxiliary boundary three-phase, 3 or 4 wire
- Choose the CT rating for a suitable low-voltage auxiliary feeder: 120 A split-core, or 300 A, 1 kA and 3 kA Rogowski coils
Class 0.5S to IEC 62053-22 with its CTs, 110 to 480 V line to line, CAT III at 480 V
Wind turbine availability from turbine to connection
Preserve each source reading, its quality and its timestamp. Use the point of common coupling for the farm result and lower-level measurements to allocate the difference, never to replace the approved connection record.
Add an operating record beside the approved plant systems
The path below acquires data only. Turbine control, the power-plant controller, protection, operator telemetry and settlement metering remain in their approved systems.
- Modbus
- Zigbee
- Edge
- Platforms
| Position | What it tells you | Reference | Sensor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turbines and collector feeders | Active power, energy, operating state and which part of the farm contributed to the result | Use the approved plant data interface and the exact turbine or feeder signal definition IEC 61400-25-1 | ZMB-31 (on this page), documented plant registers |
| Point of common coupling | The net farm export or import after collector, transformer and auxiliary effects | Retain the approved meter identity, CT and VT ratios, sign convention and interval boundary IEC 61400-26-1 | ZMB-31 (on this page), approved meter interface |
| Turbine and plant states | Available, running, stopped, faulted, maintained or limited, using the owner's agreed state taxonomy | IEC 61400-26-1 defines an information model with category priority and entry and exit criteria IEC 61400-26-1 | ZMB-31 (on this page), state and reason registers |
| Low-voltage auxiliaries | Substation and service demand that reduces net delivered energy | Use ZEM-65 only within its rated low-voltage installation boundary Wireless 3-Phase Electricity Monitor datasheet | ZEM-65 (on this page), suitable LV circuits |
Availability is a classified record. Agree category names, precedence and entry and exit conditions before calculating a percentage. A turbine can have several simultaneous flags, but one reporting interval must not be counted in conflicting categories.
A limit is not a fault. Keep the operator instruction, plant-controller limit, turbine state and measured response as separate signals. Low production without those signals cannot prove curtailment.
Losses need a declared boundary. Compare turbine or feeder energy with point-of-common-coupling energy over matching complete intervals. The residual can include collector and transformer losses, auxiliaries, missing data and meter uncertainty.
Wind farm curtailment and availability evidence
Keep raw observations beside derived categories. Every interval needs a common time basis, source age, expected-input status and the rule version used to classify it.
- Align clocks before comparing power
- Retain source timestamps and convert them to one documented time basis. State how interval ends, time zones and daylight-saving changes are handled before summing energy or matching an instruction to a response.
- Withdraw stale availability
- If a turbine state, active limit, meter or weather input is stale, mark the affected classification incomplete. Do not carry the last known state forward as current evidence.
- Separate curtailed, constrained and faulted energy
- EirGrid distinguishes system-wide curtailment from local network constraint. Other operators use their own terms. Store the original instruction and reason code, then map it to an owner's reporting category without overwriting the source.
- Allocate losses without hiding the residual
- Compare complete turbine or feeder totals with the point-of-common-coupling total. Report declared auxiliaries and electrical losses, and leave unexplained residuals visible instead of assigning them automatically to turbine underperformance.
Commissioning checks
Commission the read-only record with the wind-farm operator and the site's electrical and control engineers.
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Every electrical boundary is identified
Trace turbines, collector feeders, transformers, auxiliaries and the point of common coupling on the single-line diagram and metering schedule.
Pass when each quantity has one named boundary, direction, ratio, unit and owner.
-
Clocks and intervals agree
Compare source and Gateway timestamps across a known operating change and a complete reporting interval.
Pass when the time basis, interval convention and maximum accepted source age are documented and observed.
-
States follow the agreed taxonomy
Exercise approved operating, stop, maintenance and fault examples, or replay an operator-approved historical set.
Pass when entry, exit and category precedence reproduce the owner's expected classification without double counting.
-
A dispatch limit remains distinct from a fault
Compare an approved operator-limit example with an equipment-fault example using instruction, plant limit, turbine state and measured power.
Pass when the two intervals retain different source evidence and reporting categories.
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Missing data cannot create lost energy
In an approved test environment, stop one required input and inspect classifications and exported records.
Pass when the affected interval is visibly incomplete and no curtailment, fault loss or availability value is invented.
-
The acquisition path cannot control the farm
Review configured function codes, credentials, network paths and plant-controller permissions.
Pass when the EpiSensor path is read-only and has no turbine or plant set-point authority.
Keep formal control and commercial records separate
This operating record helps explain plant behaviour. It does not become the system that protects, dispatches or settles the wind farm.
- It does not replace turbine protection, substation protection, the power-plant controller, synchronisation, export limitation, emergency systems or grid-code functions.
- Network-operator telemetry, control response and compliance tests follow the connection agreement and operator rules. An Edge record does not prove their acceptance.
- Revenue, support-scheme and settlement quantities use the approved commercial meters and procedures. Operational measurements cannot determine payment or compensation by themselves.
- Potential production and lost-energy estimates need an agreed model, valid wind and availability inputs, uncertainty treatment and commercial rules outside this guide.
- Regulation (EU) 2019/943 sets redispatch principles, but national implementation, contracts and connection terms determine the applicable commercial treatment.
Sources
- IEC 61400-26-1:2019, availability for wind energy generation systems (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) International Electrotechnical Commission
- IEC 61400-25-1:2017, communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) International Electrotechnical Commission
- Wind Dispatch Tool constraint group overview (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) EirGrid
- Regulation (EU) 2019/943 on the internal market for electricity (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) European Union
- Wireless 3-Phase Electricity Monitor datasheet (opens in a new tab) EpiSensor. Specifications, ranges and ordering codes.
Related
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Transformer and distribution board monitoring
A meter at the incomer, meters on the feeders worth explaining, and a temperature probe where loading has to be read against heat.
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Third-party devices for this application
More in the Device Directory: Energy meters (62), Current transformers (7)
Define the evidence before calculating availability
Bring the single-line diagram, point list, state taxonomy, metering schedule, operator-signal specification and reporting rules to an engineer.