De-icing systems on wind turbines can increase the yearly production of energy with up to 10 percent, according to tests made by the utility Skellefteå Kraft at the wind farm Uljabuouda in the north of Sweden.
During November and December last year the utility shut down the anti-icing system on a WinWinD 3 MW wind turbine while running the system on an identical turbine.
The difference in production was clear.
– The loss of production on the turbine without blade heating was around 17 000 euro during the period, says Hans Gedda, a technical consultant, who has been managing the project for Skellefteå Kraft.
– We decided to stop the tests because the losses were so significant on the turbine without heating.
Next step will be measuring how much energy the anti-icing systems consumes.
– Today we have unclear picture of the their consumption, says Gedda. There are a lot of figures around and most likely there is big differences between different suppliers.
The tests in Uljabuouda will be performed between November and March this year. According to the plans they will continue next year.