The effervescence period at Enel Green Power - the wind of change
With sound experience in distribution network design, Laurențiu Parasca joined Enel Green Power in 2009, at a time when everything had to be done. The wind farms development phase was marked by dynamism - opinions, procurement, construction, wind farms connections to the grid.
If you want to build a wind farm, you first need to find out which are the most suitable places for that. The starting point is the wind resources mapping and a one or two-year wind survey that analyzes the wind periods and lanes over a given area, the wind directions and speeds. The mountain peaks and the sea are ideal, but access is more difficult there.
Wind power has been used in the past and it will be used more and more in the future. As International Energy Agency notes in the 2018 World Energy Outlook, wind energy production in the European Union will increase more than three times and will reach 1,100 TWh by 2040, i.e. it will account for more than 30% of the Union's electricity needs (three times more than in 2017, for example). In this context, the Enel Group has been committed to reaching, by 2021, 50% of renewable energy produced by the company globally. Projects started in Romania 10 years ago will also contribute to achieving this goal.
At that time, once every few days, Mr. Parasca came from Constanța to Bucharest or traveled to Italy for planning and having talks with the global team. Then he was working in the engineering department, dealing with technical issues. Those were the years when the wind farms in the three areas where Enel Green Power Romania is located in - Tulcea, Constanța and Moldova Nouă - were erected. The first wind farm was opened in 2010, in Tulcea - the one in Valea Nucarilor, which I presented to you in a previous article.
Who takes cares of the wind turbines?
In your trips around the country, you've probably seen smaller and bigger wind turbines. It depends on power and generation thereof. Not everyone can deal with the small wind turbines! The noise level is higher and their being so close is actually intimidating. “At night, when there is a blizzard, you might not stay too long”. This is all that Mr. Parasca tells us, but it is enough for us to start imagining stories with wind turbines that come to life when the moon rises from the clouds and then take a run at the sea.
The fact is, however, that the turbines are nowhere to go; they are here to sustain the human energy consumption day and night, sometimes even largely contributing to the energy mix during the windy winter. Wind power plants, like other renewable power units, are the first in the order of merit of electricity producers, that is, the energy they produce is the first to be consumed, followed by hydro, nuclear and fossil fuel plants.
If it is to go further into the backstage, we find that 5-7 wind turbines are connected to each other through a medium voltage (20-30KV) power connection and form a cluster. The clusters are connected to a transformer station and finally the electricity is injected into the 400 KV transmission network and from there it travels to the places where it is needed. In Constanța County, Enel Green Power has two dispatchable power plants - subject to the rules of the National Power Dispatcher (DEN). A power plant has an installed capacity of 120 MW and 52 turbines, the other, 60 MW and 26 turbines.
In the operational stage - the current stage - turbines produce constant clean energy when the wind is generous. And Laurențiu Parasca entered a new stage in 2013, when he became responsible for the Constanța area, taking over the coordination role of the technical team that takes care of the wind farms in the county.
The Constanța team includes two turbine engineer technicians, who are daily on site and monitor all situations that occur - alarms, incidents, checking works, component replacements. They organize the work of subcontractors and support them with what they need, while keeping in touch with the EGP dispatchers who have an overview of all wind farms.
Enel Green Power dispatch, always alert
Access to the control rooms is limited. Mr. Parasca, who is visiting Bucharest, tells us that this area is dedicated to specialists who “keep an eye on all installations”. He explains what we see on the screens - we understand electrical schemes, we can track certain power plants or turbines, see their condition and the parameters they work at. If it has a failure, dispatchers know exactly both who is on the site and the repair status.
Certainly, presence of mind is a necessary skill in this profession. But it can manifest differently, as well. Young people on the premises are very attentive and immediately reply! When I entered the room, I actually entered a system of jokes, self-irony and pricks, to which Laurențiu Parasca makes a pendant to, while constantly smiling. “Dispatchers’ cruel destiny is to stay locked up”, someone says, thinking to the danger it would be if they escaped and it was in the news.
They’re also talking about the recent visit of the Energy Students in Constanta, who participated in November 2018 in the SIER's “Career in Energy Industry” conference and who, afterwards, visited the Stupina power station. Students were appreciated - “they really knew something!”
You need to know how to unwind when you have a job that seems stressful at least when seen from the outside. Local dispatchers keep in touch with technicians on site, but they also respond to DEN orders that may occur when there is a problem with energy transport, a congestion, a line malfunction or a certain power when delimitating facilities.
Interventions for Repair
Interventions are more frequent in the winter, because the turbines produce more energy and some parts may wear out. Weather is no longer so predictable, as well and problems arise when roads are snowed and technicians cannot access the wind farms. Authorities' equipment need to clear the roads, and only then people, equipped with thick, heat-insulating outfits, can get to the roller-chain track vehicles so as to move from one turbine to another. But neither the heavy winters scare the two technicians from Constanța, who arrived at Enel Green Power in the development phase, during the laborious construction and connection period.
Even though the work needed for the turbine to get back into production is against the clock, it's a working style you get used to. Stay there until you fix it; it’s your job. Mr. Parasca doesn’t see anything special about it.
Personal time - is there any?
For over 30 years, the family got used to Mr. Parasca’s working hours. The only one for whom everything is new is the 5-year-old grandson, who spends his weekends with his grandfather at the Dolphinarium, in the micro-delta nearby, and at the playgrounds. When he will turn 10-11, his grandfather will initiate him into a life-long passion - fishing. Fishing is a strict rules habit - it happens in one’s own boat, alongside 2-3 amateur friends, during windless weekends (you see, the wind is not good for every activity!) and only at sea. The main purpose is relaxation, but one really must return home with fish.
Mr. Parasca has also other passions, closer to home. Gardening and all kinds of “handicrafts” are activities he still has not enough time for. When he will have the heart to retire and give up the technical activity he has been connected to for so many years, he will use his skills around the house. With the new regulatory framework in force, he is thinking about becoming a prosumator (small domestic electricity producer). The price of photovoltaic panels (“photoatomic” he calls them just to confuse us) is decreasing, so it's a good time to mount them on the house roof and handle this little personal power plant. It is clear that energy and Laurențiu Parasca will never part.
