Renewable Wind Turbine Failures
Wind energy systems are becoming increasingly popular around the world due to their sustainability. In some countries, wind power is the largest source of renewable energy. In other countries like the United States, it's just starting to catch on.
As demand for wind power has more than tripled in the last ten years, more wind turbines are being installed, resulting in an increased number of incidents related to them. Additionally, since some countries, especially in Europe, have been using wind power for years, turbines are growing older, which dramatically increases the possibility of breakdown and failure.
Wind Turbine Failures
Wind turbines are running constantly, making breakdowns and failures unavoidable. When even one wind turbine is out of service, the downtime and related costs can be substantial. In this high-growth industry, it's important to get machinery back into service as quickly as possible.
Envista's engineers have inspected numerous turbines for electrical or mechanical failures due to:
- High wind speed
- Lightning
- Freeze-up
- Component failure
- Poor maintenance
- Human error
Our wind energy experts consult on a wide range of turbine incidents, analyzing what happened to determine the origin and cause. These incidents include:
- Electrical failures
- Mechanical failures
- Nacelle fires
- Blade failures
- Structural collapses
- Effects of vibration or resonance
- Transportation accidents
Global Wind Organization (GWO) Climb Certified Experts
Conducting wind turbine failure investigations requires knowledge of aerodynamics and the turbine hardware and systems. Our experts can provide confident cause-of-loss analysis and accurate cost estimates for repair or replacement.
Envista's experts have GWO climb certifications and are equipped with all climb gear and rescue apparatus, which allows them to perform up-tower inspections of wind turbines at the loss location before they are disturbed.
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