Is icing and issue for the megawatt turbines on the coastline:First results of Pori 8 MW wind farm

Icing has been observed to prevent the operation of standard wind turbines in harsh arctic conditions. In addition to the fell areas of Nordic countries, atmospheric icing is observed in the other parts of Europe. The frequency of atmospheric icing events has been observed to increase with elevation. If bigger and higher wind turbines are erected, the blade tips can undergo in-cloud icing also in coastal areas. In Port wind farm, Finland, icing of the 1 MW wind turbines has been prevented by an ice prevention system of the turbine blades. The results from the first winters operation show that in-cloud icing is approximately seven times as. frequent at the 84m level as compared to the 62m level. This strongly suggests that icing becomes a more important issue also on coastal wind parks when the dimensions of the wind turbines increase