The wind industry is on the verge of a data revolution, as developers and operators look for new ways to accelerate the impressive expansion and cost reductions achieved in its first decades. ORE. There is an immense opportunity around the data and information generated form operational sites–wind farms bristle with data from asset sensors, environmental measurements and process information such as maintenance records. The question is: what are we doing with this wealth of information? And how can we get a young industry, careful of its commercial secrets, to pool their data for the greater good?

ORE Catapult’s Dr Conaill Soraghan discusses the difficulties, and the opportunities for small and large businesses alike, with SSE’s Jonathan N. Butler and Natural Power’s Iain Dinwoodie.

Dr Conaill Soraghan is Data & Digitalisation Team Leader at ORE Catapult. He is passionate about supporting the renewables industry realise a successful digital transformation and extracting the full potential from digital technology, data and information. His track record includes technical lead for SPARTA, the world’s first offshore wind benchmarking platform, and the management and development of a team of data specialists and engineers.

For this month's technical challenge, they are tasked with explaining 'SCADA' and 'CMS' ('condition monitoring system') in under a minute.

Dr Jonathan N. Butler is Wind Asset Performance Engineer at SSE Renewables, the leading developer, owner and operator of wind farms in the UK. His role is to drive the development of reporting and data analysis for the company’s onshore and offshore wind fleet and is developing data analysis tools for the company’s hydro business.

Dr Iain Dinwoodie is Senior Asset Performance Engineer at Natural Power, a global renewable energy consultancy group. He specialises in operations and maintenance performance analysis with a brief to expand and enhance data analytical capabilities for the company’s clients.