The Netherlands. According to energy specialists, artificial intelligence (AI) development could lead to an onshore wind farm built entirely by robots. Flying drones could be used to carry out inspections and maintenance, DNV GL suggested. Solar- and wind units built by autonomous robots look at the future.
Wind Power: Sensors
AI can benefit the wind industry through improved data collection and analysis, and robot installation and operations and maintenance (O&M) crews, according to the new DNV GL analysis. The industry already benefits from data collected by sensors, and this has aided advances in resource forecasting, control, and predictive maintenance, the energy consultants found. According to the energy specialists' Position paper, data from wind farms collected through AI has been underutilized. Information about the performance of individual projects has traditionally not been shared "except to demonstrate the achievement of regulatory minimum standards," the report’s authors wrote.
Autonomous Robots
The data-rich wind industry stands to benefit from collecting performance data by sensors and flying, crawling, sailing, and diving robots or drones to install, inspect, and maintain sites. "It is possible to imagine an onshore wind farm being built entirely by autonomous robots," the report’s authors wrote.
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"The parts of a wind tower and turbine or a solar array are transported from the factory by self-driving lorries, unloaded by another set of robots, attached to the foundations that yet other robots have dug and filled, and pieced together by a final set of robots and drones. "Most of these robots are driving robots — or automatic guided vehicles — controlled by artificial intelligence," they added. DNV GL did not specify a date by which this might be possible. Artificial intelligence will also "have an impact" on human jobs in the wind industry, DNV GL predicted — especially in planning, operations, and inspections. However, the report’s authors concede it "will take some time before the consequences of AI introduction on renewables job functions will be clear." Elsewhere in the report, DNV GL claimed the industry could benefit from the acceleration of due diligence, reducing the human hours and number of documents required for site planning and analysis.
Solar- And Wind Projects Built Entirely By Autonomous Robots
Robotic Solar Panel Cleaner Demonstration At UC Davis Solar Farm
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DNV GL also predicted new efficiencies in supply chain optimization, such as delivering solar and wind components by self-driving trucks and installing renewables.
"We expect the installation of more sensors, the increase in easier-to-use machine learning tools, and the continuous expansion of data monitoring, processing and analytics capabilities to create new operating efficiencies — and new and disruptive business models," said Lucy Craig, director of technology and innovation at DNV GL. AI's benefits could also reduce costs in energy development, production, and delivery, as DNV GL stated, especially as the costs of AI are lower as the ease of its use increases.
The energy specialists concluded that the wind industry embracing artificial intelligence would be a "prudent move," but questions such as who runs a project when an AI system goes down and how quickly the effects of AI will be felt need to be considered.
"Wind developers, operators, and investors need to consider how their industries can use it, what the impacts are on the industries in a larger sense, and what decisions those industries need to confront," co-author Elizabeth Traiger concluded.
Cover photo by E4 Robots. The panels at the Ketura Sun solar plant in Israel are now cleaned autonomously by E4 robots.
Source Windpower Monthly: Projects 'could be built entirely by autonomous robots'
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