Lac Alfred wind farm consists of 150 turbines, commissioned in 2013, originally without any anti- or de-icing solutions. Due to the excessive losses caused by icing, the owners of the wind farm had searched for a solution for icing problem which can be retrofitted. Because of proven technology and operative experience of a local wind turbine maintenance company, Wicetec WIPS -system was selected to solve the problem.
Wicetec delivered WIPS for two wind turbines for a retrofitting project in Lac Alfred wind farm in 2016. This first project aimed to prove the concept of retrofitting WIPS into existing wind turbines. The performance of the two systems was evaluated by a third party who used measurement data, camera observations and compared the performance to neighboring turbines.
The first installations were a success. As a result, Wicetec delivered 10 WIPS systems for retrofitting in the same wind farm a year later. This small serial was a startup towards larger scale serial production of retrofit solution.
The retrofit installations were continued in year 2019 with 16 new retrofit systems. The total number of retrofitted turbines with anti icing systems increased to 28.