Successful on-turbine trials demonstrate the value and flexibility of the blade-maintenance Habitat.
GEV Wind Power’s first set of onshore trials for its innovative blade-maintenance Habitat have been successfully completed, presenting a major milestone for the company.
The Habitat enables technicians to conduct essential repairs on remote wind turbines while remaining sheltered from the elements. It also provides O&M companies a greater scope throughout the year to schedule repairs because the sheler provides protection, even in more adverse seasonal weather conditions.
The Habitat was installed on Power Climber and Kaeufer access platforms in varying weather conditions and ranging between 30 meters and 100 meters high, with successful deployment demonstrating the flexibility and operability of the Habitat in a real-life environment.
“Our Habitat plays a key role in facilitating O&M operations in this rapidly developing industry, while providing cost-saving benefits which are vital throughout the entire supply chain,” said Alastair Gadney, Project Director for GEV Group.
“These trials are a huge leap forward in not only reinforcing the concept of the Habitat, but also proving how it can be applied to a range of turbine and access platform sizes. We are also exploring different configurations of the Habitat, from a simple wind break to a more complete waterproof solution,” he added.
GEV Wind Power also now offers a 24-hour working window using fixed lighting within the Habitat, ensuring complex repairs are completed and turbines returned to service much quicker than is currently achievable. The Habitat is expected to offer huge savings to both O&M providers and asset owners.
The trials also enabled GEV technicians to test the company’s bespoke blade maintenance App, I-RIS (Intuitive Reporting and Inspection System), which facilitates timely project management as data is communicated, near real-time, via satellite to a web-based monitoring and reporting tool. The tests clearly demonstrated the value of I-RIS, which provides a simple interface offering savings across data capture and reporting.
GEV Wind Power
www.gevwindpower.com
Filed Under: News, O&M
