How does wind turbine servicing work?
With wind farms becoming increasingly common nowadays, servicing demands are seeing a steady increase. These services need to be carried out on a regular basis, in order to maintain both the safety and operational efficiency of these energy beasts.
If you have only recently entered the wind energy sector, and you’re not quite sure about how servicing processes work, then you’ve come to the right place. From the nature of routine checks to choosing a servicing partner, here’s what you need to know.
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Routine checks & maintenance
There are a number of different areas in which wind turbines require regular maintenance. One of these is the importance of regular cleaning to ensure that the blades remain aerodynamically optimal to produce energy.
Certain parts will also wear out and will need to be replaced. Moving parts will likely need oiling at regular intervals, and minor repairs can be carried out to prevent more prolonged periods of downtime.
These kinds of checks will need to be carried out at least biannually, sometimes more frequently. The more diligent you are with these checks, the easier it is to prevent more serious and costly issues from occurring.
Repairs
It’s to be expected that certain components will wear out or break after a certain amount of time, and when this happens, you’ll need to arrange for repairs. This could include repairing the leading edge of damaged blades, fixing electrical faults, or changing broken gearboxes and generators.
It’s important to take care of these repairs sooner rather than later, to avoid dangerous incidents further down the line. Preventive maintenance and repairs will also often end up being far more cost-effective, compared to waiting for things to further deteriorate.
Access
The most difficult thing about servicing and repairing wind turbines is access. Serving professionals will typically need to have both expertise in servicing itself, and extensive experience in rope access techniques.
It’s vital that you use a service with fully qualified rope access technicians. Failure to do so can result in damage to your wind turbines, not to mention the increased risk of serious injury or even death. Only use services which are able to operate to the necessary standards.
Choosing a servicing partner
With wind turbine servicing, you can’t just choose any old maintenance service and expect them to know what to do. You need to use a specialist partner such as AIS Wind Energy, and ideally use them for all your servicing and maintenance needs.
While operationally complex, most wind turbine servicing requirements are quite similar across the board. As a result, most wind turbine servicing experts should be able to help you with your repair needs, regardless of context.
Wind turbine servicing is a critical aspect of running a wind farm, and not one that you can afford to overlook. By finding the right servicing partner, you can help to ensure that your servicing, maintenance and repair needs are met over the years to come, keeping both downtime and unnecessary repairs to an absolute minimum.
