|
Latest Issue
 |
- Category: Articles
Polyurethane solutions for the wind industryCovestro’s polyurethane solutions offer important cost savings for wind energy, as demonstrated by simulations carried out by Bewind based upon 12MW offshore wind turbines with 100-metre-long rotor blades. Covestro, a global polymer company, has applied its industrial expertise in high-tech polymer materials to develop polyurethane solutions for wind turbine applications which offer performance benefits and lower blade costs.
By Ernesto Silva M., Covestro Deutschland AG, and Dr. Johann Maass, Bewind, Germany
- Category: Articles
How Customised Filtration Solutions Help Maintain Wind Turbine GearboxesAs one of the fastest-growing renewable energy resources globally, wind energy is free, sustainable and inexhaustible. At the same time, manufacturers strive to build bigger, safer, more efficient, and powerful turbines to provide the world with more affordable electricity. However, due to their continuous energy production and often remote locations, both onshore and offshore, gear-driven wind turbines are a very demanding application that requires extreme reliability and durability. For optimal reliability, uptime and service life, the health of the gear oil is critical. Oil contamination can cause gear failure and lead to breakdowns, potentially resulting in high repair costs, lost energy production or even damage to the wind turbine’s structure. Therefore, the continuous monitoring and filtration of gear oil is essential to maximise uptime. This article focuses on the wind turbine’s gearbox and lubrication system and the key aspects to consider when selecting the filtration system.
By Eric Rud, Global Hydraulic Filtration Product Manager, Eaton, USA
- Category: Articles
How to Plan Your ADLS ProjectAircraft Detection Lighting Systems provide reliable, continuous 360-degree radar surveillance of the airspace around wind farms, both onshore and offshore, communications towers, power lines and installations that require aircraft obstruction lighting, automatically issuing signals to activate obstruction lighting when aircraft are detected at a defined outer perimeter.
By Gary Andrews, President & CEO, DeTect, USA and Edward Zakrajsek, Executive Vice President, DeTect Global, UK
- Category: Articles
Improving the Accuracy of Wind Resource AssessmentsFrictional forces due to land properties (such as terrain height and the physical structure of vegetation (height, density, etc.)) influence the strength and direction of the wind at the surface. Therefore, reliable and timely data and information on such properties is critical to accurately assess the availability of wind resources. However, assessment of wind energy resources is a highly complex and time-consuming process, ultimately relying on consistent, accurate and timely models and input data. Yet, in many cases, especially in forested sites, surface data on roughness and forest height is inaccessible or simply not available, and this may impact the ability of wind modellers to accurately assess wind resources.
By Torsten Bondo, Business Development Manager, DHI, Denmark
- Category: Articles
Time Spent in Reconnaissance Critical for Offshore Wind’s Next FrontierThe offshore wind market is accelerating rapidly as global political pressure mounts to transition to clean energy sources. New sites are being selected, many of which are in deep-water locations. This is possible as several floating foundations are now proven in full-scale offshore trials, so building on a commercial scale is theoretically achievable. It is clear that floating offshore wind represents the next frontier, but which floating structure will deliver the best levelised cost of energy? It is as much about the local port infrastructure as it is the floating foundation. With multiple solution providers developing various models across four main structure types, this article outlines some of the factors for consideration and explains how independent naval architecture consultancy can support informed decision-making.
Mark Goalen, Director of Offshore Engineering, Houlder, UK
- Category: Articles
Introducing IEA Wind Task 46Leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades has been identified as the main factor substantially reducing both blade lifetimes and energy output over time. Field repairs are costly due to lost availability and challenging access, work and weather conditions [1]. During the wind farm planning stage, the lack of validated methods to estimate the overall cost of erosion causes uncertainty in the investment decisions, again raising the levelised cost of energy.
By Raul Prieto, Charlotte Hasager, Sara C. Pryor, Marijn Veraart, David C. Maniaci, Jakob I. Bech, Maral Rahimi, Fernando Sánchez López, Bodil Holst and Sandro di Noi
- Category: Articles
New Blade Coating Enhances Existing Lightning Protection SystemsLightning damage stubbornly remains a major O&M expense for owner-operators in cost and frequency. Damage such as blade skin punctures, shell delamination, split trailing edges, and (less frequently) catastrophic damage to wind turbine blades is costly to repair and causes undesirable downtime. Even with the current mitigation systems in place, it is estimated that lightning damage costs the wind industry more than $ 100 million each year. Strikes are inevitable, and their frequency will only grow as turbines get taller, more onshore and offshore wind farms are developed, and our climate continues to change.
By Neal E. Fine, John A. Cooney and Christopher S. Szlatenyi, Arctura, Inc., USA
Stay informed with Windtech International! Sign up here for our free newsletters
| Turbine Shots
brought to you by
 |
 |
| #48 Senvion wind turbines installed in California, USA (courtesy The Blade Rat) |
| Every week on our website and in our email newsletter we want to show you that wind energy is more than just technology. We therefore invite you to send stunning pictures of wind turbines inspired by “light” (in the broadest sense of the word). After 52 submissions we will announce the winner of the year’s best picture! Email your photo to Include turbine model, location and name of photographer. (size of the published photo will be 336 px width x 280 px high). |
|
 Check our Instagram to see all published pictures |
Use of cookies
Windtech International wants to make your visit to our website as pleasant as possible. That is why we place cookies on your computer that remember your preferences. With anonymous information about your site use you also help us to improve the website. Of course we will ask for your permission first. Click Accept to use all functions of the Windtech International website.