Germanischer Lloyd (GL), an international technical assurance and consulting company, has published ‘The Guideline for the Continued Operation of Wind Turbines.’ This guide is designed for owners and operators of wind turbines, insurance companies, creditors and manufacturers to determine how to take care of first-generation turbines.
Wind turbines are subject to high dynamic stress. Wildly fluctuating loading conditions lead to material fatigue for the individual components of the turbines. Therefore, inspection for the continued operation of wind turbines is required when the mathematically calculated life span of 20 years expires. The replacement of individual components or modified location conditions calls for an inspection in line with the most up-to-date technology, says GL.
GL offers practical and analytical methods for inspecting a wind turbine. The practical method is an extended, recurring inspection of the turbine on-site that is carried out in accordance with ‘The Guideline for the Continued Operation of Wind Turbines.’
The analytical is more time- and cost-intensive, says GL. In this method, the turbine is completely recalculated on the basis of the existing load data from the previous years. This version is used for larger wind farms.
SOURCE: Germanischer Lloyd
