Operations & Maintenance
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Baltic Insight report: Overcoming ice challenges
Installing and maintaining offshore turbines to cope with icy conditions poses additional difficulties for wind technicians
How Siemens Gamesa’s offshore turbines hit 97% availability
SGRE’s technology chief on enhancing reliability, reducing downtime and the possibility of working with other OEMs
UK offshore wind jobs to triple in next five years
The UK offshore wind workforce is due to grow, but it is falling short of targets to employ more women and apprentices, new report finds
News and Analysis
German wind sector proposes permitting and repowering fixes
WindEurope, BWE and several turbine manufacturers and wind developers have called on the German government to help the sector
Avangrid investigates turbine fire at Pennsylvania wind farm
The fire at the Locust Ridge wind farm in Pennsylvania follows a blaze in December 2020 and at least two others in the last decade, according to local media
Extreme weather losses for wind on the rise since 2010
Tornadoes, flooding and ice storms led to a spike in severe wind losses measured in insurance claims, a new report into renewables finds
Global offshore wind O&M market due 16% annual growth in 2020s
Europe will still account for more than half of $12 billion offshore O&M sector in 2029, with China as the biggest individual market
Global offshore wind employment to triple by 2030
Hundreds of thousands of additional workers will be needed over the next decade to deliver the growth in offshore wind capacity, new analysis suggests
In depth
Windtech: Click-on and go device promises fast turbine evacuation
Quick access to a safe way to escape from a turbine fire is key to saving lives. Eize de Vries finds out why a new evacuation system claims to have the edge over traditional rope-based rescue solutions
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.