The maintenance guys were on the way, and for Tom Vance, general manager of Breezeway Energy’s 170 MW Mosquero Plain Wind Farm, there was suddenly not very much to do for the next couple hours except calculate the losses.

Just as the weather forecast had predicted, the wind had risen from nearly calm to about 30 mph in a matter of minutes on the shoulders of a cold front that had come through around 5 p.m.

After six frustrating days with no wind, it was exactly what Mosquero Plain needed to record a third consecutive month of profitability – and for Tom’s quarterly bonus to kick in.

But the fast-moving cold front had brought not only wind but also thunder storms. As the turbines started to hit peak production, Tom witnessed several lightning flashes off in the distance. Moments later, alarms in the control room indicated that electrical production was declining because several turbines had tripped off-line even as the wind had continued to blow. At the same time, the automatic voltage control system indicated that several circuit breakers used to operate capacitor banks – which in turn control the system voltage – were locked-out.

Now, it would be at least an hour before the plant would be back at full production. 

It would be difficult to hit generating targets for the month. Adding insult to injury, he’d have to explain to corporate why the plant kept tripping during some of the best wind periods.

What can Tom do to prevent the frequent tripping of wind generators and to increase the power output of his wind farm?