Operations & Maintenance
RSS feedNews & in-depth analysis of wind farm and turbine operations & maintenance, including turbine & blade failure, access, monitoring & control systems, health & safety, refitting, repowering, wind monitoring and site security.
Vestas turbines halted following lightning storm
Vestas and MidAmerican Energy are investigating the causes of a turbine breakdown at an Iowa wind farm
Fires at wind farms 'underreported over fears of reputational damage'
Poor data and lack of rigorous and transparent reporting around blazes raise concerns operators are left guessing over protection, according to an expert report
Improving skills base is 'the biggest challenge we face'
MHI Vestas CEO and WindEurope chairman Philippe Kavafyan outlines what the wind energy industry will need from its workforce in the coming years
News and Analysis
Germany seeks fix for ageing fleet
Government and industry have begun talks about what to do with 16GW of onshore wind capacity due to exit Germany's old support scheme by 2025
SGRE 5.X orders hit 1GW in 18 months
Siemens Gamesa secures its largest yet 5.X deal in the Nordic region with a 372-MW Björnberget project in Sweden, building on wins across Europe, Brazil, Chile and Vietnam
China faces ‘colossal task’ to hit 5,000GW of renewables in $5 trillion zero-carbon target
Record-breaking figures cited by Wood Mackenzie offer a breakdown analysis of the wind, solar and storage capacities China needs to hit its targets
French floater picks MHI Vestas V164-10.0MW wind turbines
MHI Vestas Offshore Wind is to supply three V164-10.0MW turbines for the EolMed floating project in the Mediterranean Sea near Gruissan in the Aude region
Ørsted plans 100MW ‘green ammonia’ electrolyser
Ørsted teams up with fertiliser firm to develop a 100MW wind-powered electrolyser plant for renewable hydrogen production
In depth
Big turbines push down O&M costs
Advances in turbine technology have improved reliability, reducing unscheduled downtime and cutting service costs. While offshore projects remain more expensive to operate, economies of scale will play an increasing role as arrays featuring hundreds of units become the norm.
Material considerations: covering up the cracks on turbine failure
The Material Failure Investigation Group of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) has been listening to, and acting on, presentations on the subject of wind turbine failures for the past two years.
What to do with turbines after they leave support system
With around 6,000 turbines due to leave the support system in 2021, Germany's environment agency has assessed the country's readiness to recycle this potential flood of turbine components, and at what cost.
Windpower Monthly review of 2019 -- part 2
The next generation of new turbines continues apace in the second half of the year, but financial woes among many of the industry's western OEMs also bite. Here are the top articles from the latter half of 2019.
Windpower Monthly review of 2019 -- part 1
A spate of technology launches dominated the first half of the year, with a new generation of prototypes also being installed. Here are the top articles from the first half of 2019.
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