Maintenance professionals can use their physical senses to detect gearbox problems
Armed with some experience and a bit of awareness, there are several ways in which a technician can diagnose wind turbine gearbox problems while...
Uncertainty in the soil properties can have effects on the reliability of offshore turbine...
While offshore wind turbine technology has evolved from its onshore predecessor, engineering experience in the offshore oil and gas industry has also contributed to...
Lessons learned during a career that helps keep projects on track
Problems, issues, delays, deadlines… things that make your project not to go as planned. This is what I am writing about in this installment...
Techniques used in wind park construction
Wind park maintenance, as we learned last month, can be quite the rigging challenge. If we focus on the flip side of the coin,...
Winds that make a wind farm an attractive site can also make it a...
Over the last two months we have looked at the capabilities of cranes in maintenance and construction applications. This month we are going to...
Validating tightness can help foresee failure issues in bolted flanges
Maybe you’ve heard this one before: “A technician walks into a wind turbine and finds a broken bolt lying on the floor.” Not as...
Optimizing passive tuned mass dampers can greatly reduce loads in offshore floating wind turbines
As offshore wind energy projects move farther offshore into deeper waters, wind turbines on floating platforms instead of the traditional fixed bottom platforms become...
A logistics quality system involving three basic elements will lead to better outcomes
I am often asked how important quality systems are in logistics. I always answer by saying that it depends on the scope of the...
With the increase in megawatt output, turbines and associated components pose maintenance challenges
This month we continue our conversation about safe practices for wind technicians. Inarguably, one of the more demanding tasks of a wind technician is...
Offshore floating turbines offer a compelling means of harnessing the massive resources available in...
Most utility-scale wind turbines look the same: three blades, tapering in spanwise chord and twist from root to tip, rotor located upwind relative to...
Planning and preparation are critical to any successful project
The contract is finally signed, and everyone lets out a sigh of relief. Six months of hard negotiations hammered home an agreement. The only...
With the increase in megawatt output, larger turbines and associated components pose maintenance challenges
As the MW output of modern wind turbines continues to scale upward, the components of these machines increase in size. Maintenance tasks associated with...
For logistics experts, years of experience in the field leads to an in-depth knowledge...
With the New Year comes new resolutions, and like many of you I have made a resolution to lose some weight. My quest led...
SKF’s new high-capacity cylindrical roller bearings are designed for gearbox applications
SKF has introduced a new version of its high-capacity cylindrical roller bearings in a separable design that enables the separate mounting of inner and...
A post warranty preventative maintenance program, coupled with predictive maintenance, will reap benefits for...
One of the leading reasons why wind energy development is such an attractive investment opportunity today is that if developed, operated, and maintained appropriately...
Proper maintenance procedures will prolong the lifespan of your wind turbines and related components
In the wind power industry, the sheer diversity in the design and size of wind turbines represents a challenge for the growing number of...
Variability is the ‘ghost in the machine’ when it comes to supply chain efficiency
I was attending a supply chain networking event recently when the discussion turned to problems within supply chains. Several of the senior executives at...
Understanding the importance of field tiles and identifying ways to mitigate issues
Nothing is simple when dealing with tiling issues on wind facilities in certain portions of farm country. They are almost never surface located as...
Insights on how to safeguard personnel during the long winter months
In the October installment of this column we discussed various ways to prepare the wind turbine for winter operations. We continue our conversation by...
Conversion factors are needed in order to navigate the relative interpretation of time-averaged extreme...
The U.S. coastal environment offers challenges to widespread offshore wind development compared to projects installed in Europe. The prevalence of hurricanes along the Eastern...
