We would like to encourage you to take part in the “Wind Challenge”, an online game where players compete to extend the lifetime of a virtual wind farm at the lowest possible cost.

The game has been developed and launched by the US digitalisation pioneer Sentient Science.  They are running it with WindEurope, Recharge and the American turbine technician collective, Tower Climbing Grease Monkeys (TCGM).  The idea is to get people thinking even more about how to use operational data to inform lifetime extension decisions and to further reduce the costs of wind energy.

Competitors in the online game get anonymised datasets for a fictional wind farm in Greenland.  You choose which turbine technologies to ‘play’ with and then test out life-extension strategies that will impact the net present repair cost and revenue that the virtual asset will make over time.  You try out a range of life extension strategies on between 1 and 60 turbines on the fictitious wind farm.

The game opens today, 10 September.  And the first five winners will be announced on 26 September at the Global Wind Summit in Hamburg. The prizes will go to the players that achieves the most months of life extension at the lowest cost.  And you can wind drones and this super zero motorcycle!

Do try the game and encourage your colleagues to.  This is a great opportunity to get even better feel for the thinking behind lifetime extension decisions – and the huge potential of digitalisation for extending the life of existing wind farms.
Good luck !