{"id":36146,"date":"2026-03-11T16:57:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/news\/sopwico-smart-operation-of-wind-power-plants-in-cold-climate-more\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T16:57:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:57:50","slug":"sopwico-smart-operation-of-wind-power-plants-in-cold-climate-more","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/news\/sopwico-smart-operation-of-wind-power-plants-in-cold-climate-more\/","title":{"rendered":"SOPWICO \u2013 Smart Operation of Wind Power Plants in Cold Climate | more"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"36146\" class=\"elementor elementor-36146 elementor-36136\" data-elementor-post-type=\"news\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-8200a1e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"8200a1e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[],&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6f48db5\" data-id=\"6f48db5\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1ee64d3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"1ee64d3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/BeitragsB_SOPWICO_H500-1024x400.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-26721\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/BeitragsB_SOPWICO_H500-1024x400.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/BeitragsB_SOPWICO_H500-300x117.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/BeitragsB_SOPWICO_H500-768x300.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/BeitragsB_SOPWICO_H500.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-04d5cec e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"04d5cec\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5595b1e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5595b1e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The industry-funded project <strong>SOPWICO<\/strong> (<strong>Smart Operation of Wind Power Plants in Cold Climate<\/strong>) started in July 2022 and had a duration of 32 months, including two test winters (2022\/23 and 2023\/24).<\/p><p>Within the project, vgbe energy worked together with eight operator members to investigate how rotor blade heating systems in wind farms located in cold climate regions can be strategically optimized. The project was conducted by <a href=\"https:\/\/meteotest.ch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Meteotest AG<\/a>. <\/p><p>Operational data from four wind farms served as the basis for the analyses. All turbines were equipped with heated blades using different technical concepts: <\/p><ul><li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><ul><li><strong>Hot-air heating systems<\/strong>, where heated air circulates inside the rotor blade<\/li><li><strong>Electrothermal heating elements<\/strong>, laminated into the blade surface<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5d148f6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"5d148f6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Project Objective<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f426aed elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f426aed\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The objective of the project was to develop approaches based on SCADA data and meteorological information to better understand and optimize the timing of heating cycles. The focus was on strategically improving the operational control of rotor blade heating systems in order to reduce icing-related energy losses and enable a more time-optimized operation. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c4fdd64 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"c4fdd64\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Results<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6966f00 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6966f00\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The results clearly demonstrate:<\/p><ul><li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><ul><li>Icing-related energy losses are real and economically relevant.<\/li><li>Forecast-based control of rotor blade heating can improve energy production.<\/li><li>Purely reactive operation (based solely on ice detection systems) often results in inefficient heating cycles.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><p>The developed algorithm proved capable of reliably identifying icing periods and provides a structured basis for further improving heating strategies. At the same time, it became clear that field tests under real operating conditions are a necessary next step to robustly quantify the actual economic benefit. <\/p><p>We would like to sincerely thank all participating operators for the open technical exchange, as well as Meteotest AG, with whom we are now successfully completing our third joint project.<\/p><p>As an association, we see our role in enabling collaborative industry projects of this kind and actively supporting the transfer of research results into operational practice.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The industry-funded project SOPWICO started in July 2022 and had a duration of 32 months, including two test winters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":36138,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[114,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36146","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startpage-en","category-startpage-sticky-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36147,"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36146\/revisions\/36147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vgbe.energy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}