BUFFALO, NY – February 22, 2016, – Sentient Science has announced that it has signed an agreement with Adwen to validate the drivetrain for its next generation turbine of 8MW-rated power, which has the largest annual energy production (AEP) on the market with the highest nominal torque drivetrain and largest rotor.
Adwen, the second largest offshore wind turbine manufacturer in 2015 by market share, is a joint venture between France’s AREVA and Spain’s Gamesa, two global energy leaders that have come together to create a major player in the offshore wind industry.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sentient Science’s DigitalClone® computational testing software will be used to further validate the Adwen 8MW platform drivetrain’s design and standards.
DigitalClone® is designed to provide an exhaustive and comprehensive validation strategy in which thousands of gearbox validation test points are computationally created within weeks for a fraction of the cost of physical testing. This allows massive amounts of testing points and insights to be evaluated before physical testing begins.
According to Ward Thomas, CEO and President of Sentient Science, “Confidence in 20- to 30- year rotating equipment life is our crucial objective. The world’s largest equipment operators, gearbox and bearing manufacturers, as well as lubrication suppliers, are turning to Sentient to confirm that their products will lower the cost of energy by 1 cent per kWh on land and 5 cents per kWh offshore. Sentient is proud to help confirm and validate the system under design and to make sure that Adwen has the world’s most tested drivetrain before our friends at Fraunhofer begin their physical testing.”
Maite Basurto, Chief Technology Officer of Adwen said, “A front-end to our physical testing process with the newest computational test technology matches with our rigorous test and validation process, always with the final aim of increasing the reliability of the turbine. Using Sentient’s DigitalClone® is a first step in our extensive validation program. It will contribute to having a faster certification process and, finally, a more reliable turbine available in serial production in 2018.”
The United States government including National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and Department of Energy (DoE), has invested over $25 million in DigitalClone® to make it as accurate as physical testing. Today one in ten land-based wind turbines in the world are contracted to use the materials science- based DigitalClone® for Life Prediction & Life Extension, “Buy on Life” supply chain decisions and 30-year risk and failure analysis.
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Adwen is a 50-50 joint-venture of AREVA and Gamesa dedicated to offshore wind. Adwen is responsible for the design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and services of offshore wind turbines. Combining both AREVA and Gamesa wind expertise and extensive track-record, Adwen is ideally positioned to become a leading player in the offshore wind segment with the objective of garnering a market share of close to 20% in Europe by 2020.
Adwen has corporate offices in France, Spain, the UK and Germany.
About Sentient Science
Sentient Science, a trusted third party, believes that what is best for the rotating equipment Operator is best for the OEM and Supplier. The new business model, Buy on LifeÔ, provides the operator improved outcomes across the fleet, asset and components equal to 13 percent of Revenues or 1 cent per kWh. There is nothing like us. We called it DigitalCloneLiveÒ, which is a Software as a Service (SaaS). We use “Small Data” from materials science, rather than “Big Data” from sensors, to predict remaining Life and Life Extension of systems like drivetrains, powertrains and components, such as blades, bearings and oil. Seven applications targeted from the CEO, CFO, CRO to the Asset and Maintenance teams are available from three levels of future Life visibility, 0-3 months, 3 months to 5 years, and 5 years to 30 years. We monitor 24x7x365 by executing “always on” computational testing, simulating thousands of test points to accurately predict the life extension of systems and components.
Sentient Science is headquartered in the Advanced Manufacturing, Digital Rust Belt of Buffalo, NY. The invention of DigitalClone was hard. The company began R&D of DigitalClone in 2001, and after $25 million of investment from the world’s largest operator the DoD & DoE, and 10 years of R&D, DigitalClone received NASA’s validation in 2010. The company went commercial in July of 2014 and, after only 18 months, 1 in 10 wind turbines in the world was contracted for DigitalClone, which was honored by the White House in 2014 with the Tibbetts Award. Today, we are rapidly growing in the energy, industrial and transportation markets. A recent $17 million TOBA Capital 1st round investment will facilitate global expansion from 15,000 wind turbines under contract to more than 50,000 rotating assets in 2016 and 1 million by 2020.