2017 Fall Operations and Maintenance Users Group Meeting

The UVIG Operations & Maintenance Users Group provides a forum for personnel working with wind and solar generation equipment and at wind and solar power plants to network, share experiences, and learn up-to-date knowledge on technical topics.

The schedule of events begins on October 3 with a tour of GE Renewables’ wind turbine manufacturing facility in nearby Pensacola. The tour will be followed by a half-day roundtable discussion on blades.

The core meeting will begin the morning of October 4 with a plenary session focusing on turbine end-of-life/repowering from an O&M perspective. The plenary session is open to attendance by employees of all UVIG member organizations.

That session will be followed in the afternoon by meetings of the Siemens, Clipper, Mitsubishi and Gamesa Roundtables. The day will conclude with a networking reception.

The Solar O&M Roundtable will hold an all-day meeting on October 5. Running in parallel in the morning will be meetings of the GE, Vestas and Senvion/Nordex/Suzlon Roundtables. The afternoon will feature a Roundtable focusing on Balance of Plant issues and an update on NERC topics.

October 3 – GE Tour (Separate Registration Required – Space Limited)

*Tour is full. If you would like to be added to the waiting list, please email info@uvig.org.

• Attendees will depart the hotel between 7:45-8:00 a.m. Breakfast and a box lunch will be provided.
• GE has asked us to cap the tour at 30 attendees.
• Dress code is business casual (no open toe shoes)
• GE will provide safety glasses and vests for attendees.
• The group will return to the hotel at 1:00 p.m.

October 3 –  Blades Roundtable – 2 p.m. (Separate Registration Required – Space Limited)

*The Blades Roundtable is full. If you would like to be added to the waiting list, please email info@uvig.org.

Following the positive feedback received from the Gearbox Roundtable in Houston, UVIG will hold a pre-meeting roundtable on blades.  This will include a discussion that is not specific to any manufacturer.  Topics currently on the agenda include:

• Inspection practices: What works best? What frequency?  Internal vs. external?  Experience with drones and data (photo) management systems?  Confined space entry protocol?
• Leading edge erosion: How much is too much before repair is required?  What works best for leading edge protection?  How long do you expect leading edge protection to last?  How successfully has performance degradation been quantified?
• Lightning and blades: What are damage rates? What can be done technically to minimize damage?  How much damage is tolerable before shutdown?
• Damage and failure statistics: What are the statistics for blade fleets around damage and failures?

October 4 – Plenary Session – Life Extension and Repowering

Based on feedback from the user group membership, the plenary session will focus on life extension and repowering.  Three speakers will provide their perspectives on a number of topics, including:

• What are experiences of members involved in the process to date?
• What are the pitfalls in the repowering and life extension processes, and what are strategies for avoiding them?
• What about foundations and towers?  How are those handled?
• What’s the latest on re-selling components (like blades) from repowered turbines?  Is there a market?  What are the risks (and risk mitigants), both related to buying and selling?

October 4-5 – Roundtables

Our vendor product-specific roundtable forums are for user group members only. The format consists of open discussions, moderated by a roundtable chair, centered on a specific wind turbine component or specific model of wind turbine. The roundtable provides the opportunity for frank and open discussion among users, who share their information, knowledge and experience.

Meeting Agenda

To download a copy of the meeting agenda, please click here.

Accommodations

The meeting will be held at the SanDestin Golf & Beach Resort.
9300 Emerald Coast Pkwy West
Destin, FL 32550
Phone: 800.320.8115

The group rate is $189 per night, plus tax.

*Please note: there is a resort fee of $16 per night and a 72-hour cancellation policy is in effect for all reservations.

A map of the resort can be found here. We will be holding our meeting at the Linkside Conference Center. Attendees will be housed at the Bayside at SanDestin, which is close to the conference center.

Click here to Reserve Your Room Today!

Getting to Destin

There are three primary airports serving the Destin area:

Destin – Fort Walton Beach Airport (VPS)
https://www.flyvps.com/
It is 20-25 minutes from the resort.

Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP)
www.iflybeaches.com
It is 45-55 minutes from the resort.

Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport (PNS)
http://flypensacola.com/
It is 90-110 minutes from the resort.

All three airports have rental cards available. Sand Dollar Transportation provides airport transportation service for the Sandestin Resort. Call 850.687.9650 or visit their website at www.sanddollartransportation.com. A document with driving directions can be found here.

Meeting Registration

If you are interested in registering for the meeting, please send an email to info@uvig.org for the link to register.

*Early Bird Rates expire on September 15, 2017.

Continuing Education

Continuing Education Units will be available to attendees of this event. Information will be available on site.

Cancellations and Refunds

All registration cancellations and requests for refunds of registration fees must be submitted to UVIG in writing.

Requests received by 5:00 p.m. (eastern) on September 24 will receive a full refund. Requests received after this time will receive a refund less $250 administrative fee (full meeting attendees) or $50 (plenary session only attendees).

Registrants who have not paid by September 24 will need to make arrangements to pay in advance via credit card or risk having their registrations cancelled.

For more information, please e-mail info@uvig.org.