InnoVent gets full control of Enercon E82s with DEIF retrofit solution

Full control, unrestricted data access, plus freedom of choice and faster supply of spare parts: French green energy company InnoVent is realising these and more benefits with a DEIF control retrofit solution that is boosting availability of its Enercon E82 assets, and putting turbine control back where it belongs: with the asset owner.

It was during a routine meeting with a spare parts supplier that Wind Project Engineer Mustafa Sadallah of InnoVent first became aware that DEIF might be able to help his company solve a string of turbine-related problems.

“We were discussing spare parts and talking about complications concerning our Enercon turbines,” he says. “Our supplier told me about DEIF – that it is a company doing wind turbine retrofits.”

That first tip led to close collaboration between InnoVent and DEIF that has now resulted in a solution that gives InnoVent full control of its Enercon E82 turbines without having to rely on the OEM anymore, short lead times on spare parts, higher availability, and increased annual energy production (AEP). We travelled to the town of Croixrault in northern France to get the full story.

Developing a good solution for the Enercon E82

DEIF, in fact, had been looking for a partner to carry out a control retrofit on an Enercon turbine.

“Our philosophy is that turbine owners should always be able to control their assets,” says Wind Power Department Manager Jesper Thomsen of DEIF. “That’s why we develop retrofit control solutions for major turbine brands – they give asset owners unrestricted data access and support, enabling them to boost availability and increase AEP. We were confident that in collaboration with InnoVent, we could also develop a good solution for the Enercon E82.”

Following careful calculations and analyses of the Enercon E82, including 3D laser scanning, re-engineering, and development of aeroelastic models, DEIF developed a retrofit solution for installation as a 1:1 replacement for the original Enercon CS82a control system. The retrofit solution is based on the DEIF AWC 500 advanced controller, an extremely robust, powerful, and flexible PLC-based PAC that has been proven in more than 2,000 retrofit solutions worldwide with many different turbine brands.

“We really have all we need today”

The upgraded turbines at Croixrault were commissioned in early 2023, and the retrofit project has given InnoVent all the benefits they were looking for.

“With those new controllers, we are able to control our turbines better,” says a satisfied Mustafa Sadallah. “We can control the active and reactive power, we can change the parameters, we can do everything we need to operate this turbine – compared to before where we were not able to control our turbine ourselves and were obliged to contact Enercon each time to get the daily code. With DEIF, it has become easier to get spare parts: We have a safety stock that we got from DEIF. And even if we don’t have the parts in our safety stock, we can ask, and delivery is rapid. Today, we have very good availability of our turbines because we can fix them! We really have all we need today to do service and maintenance of the turbine. So we are really happy to work with DEIF.”

With the DEIF control retrofit, the AEP of InnoVent’s refurbished E82s is expected to improve by approximately 2%, and the company will recover its investment in a shorter time than expected. In addition, Mustafa Sadallah knows that it will be possible to successfully extend the lifetime of the turbines and increase their market value if InnoVent should decide to divest its assets at Croixrault. Perhaps most importantly, his company is now getting the support and quick answers from DEIF that were lacking when InnoVent were still using the OEM controllers.

“We really feel safe with the DEIF controllers because if we need support, there is a big team of DEIF who is supporting us when we need help,” he says. “And this is something that we cannot find with Enercon.”