Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Nacelle access solutions such as ladders and climb-assist technologies have been in place since there have been wind turbines, but as turbines get taller, service lifts (SLs) are becoming...
Several European countries have defined targets to install and operate offshore wind energy as part of their renewable energy goals. According to these targets, more than 40 GW offshore wind power is expected to be installed across the region by the year...
Companies in the global energy industry are under intense pressure from all directions. Growth in power demand must always be met and compliance with increasingly stringent health, safety and environmental regulations is mandatory. New facilities must...
Wind turbine downtime is particularly costly during winter, for two reasons. First, November to April is the period over which most such plants around the world produce around two thirds of their electricity yield. The wind farms depend on the availability...
Reliability is the key attribute of a turbine today, particularly offshore. There are many other important measures of wind turbine performance, notably the cost per unit of electricity generated, but they count for little if a turbine breaks down. And...
Condition based maintenance is increasingly used to curb wind turbine operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, especially at offshore sites where visits are prohibitively expensive. Replacing corrective maintenance with condition-based maintenance cuts...
Corrosion protection is always the last step during a production process. When a job is behind schedule, there is often pressure on the paint shop to make up for lost time by hastening its part of the production process. But trying to gain time by rushing...
Wind turbine blades' basic physics and economics are relatively simple. For one, their power output is roughly proportional to the square of blade length. This relationship pushes designers to create increasingly longer blades for harvesting additional...
One element that plays a vital role in delivering the energy generated by wind farms is cable. Wind turbines – nacelle, tower and base – comprise a variety of approximately 50 – 100 cables. This includes power transmission and distribution as well as...
As ever in turbine design, generator selection is inextricably linked to many other design decisions: the drivetrain speed, the main bearing arrangement, the nacelle structure and top head mass which, in turn, all feed into the ultimate formula: the lowest...
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