Eliminating your icing problem: Expert insights to reduce downtime

Icing reduces AEP, but that’s only part of the story. It also causes:

• Unpredictable shutdowns
• Longer downtimes
• Higher O&M effort
• Risk of overuse or premature activation of heating systems

In remote or hard-to-access locations, late detection often delays response, increasing costs and reducing turbine availability.

Traditional methods such as power curve analysis, weather-based models, or visual inspections can miss critical icing events or detect them too late to prevent operational impacts. It is also possible that they react too sensitively and trigger a shutdown too early, as they only provide implicit information. Measurements directly on the surface of the rotor blades offer more accurate, timely insights, and up to 2.5 times shorter downtimes compared to other solutions.

The EOLOGIX-PING system is built around three key pillars:

• DETECT: Sensors on the rotor blade surface identify 5 stages of icing early and with precision.
• DECIDE: Operators are able to make data-based and fast decisions by knowing the condition of the whole blade.
• DELIVER: Blade heating or automatic restart of the turbine is activated only when needed, saving energy and maximizing uptime.

With accurate detection and condition-based control, turbines can remain operational during winter, even under challenging conditions. Operators gain greater predictability in performance, can plan interventions more effectively, and avoid unnecessary stops. As a result, downtime is reduced, safety is maintained, and operational efficiency increases, all with less manual oversight.