Moventas USA says it recently completed the first up-tower repairs on a Clipper Windpower 2.5 MW Liberty wind turbine in Hamburg, N.Y.
Moventas, which replaced the intermediate assembly rollers up-tower on a turbine owned by developer First Wind, maintains that it was the first time that such a service could be performed up-tower. Typically, the unique design of the Clipper gearbox required service at the factory and at a considerable expense to the end user, notes Moventas.
Introduced in 2006, the 2.5 MW Liberty wind turbine was the largest wind turbine manufactured in the U.S. when it was first installed. Its field failure began to occur shortly after the first installs and spiked in 2011 before Clipper divested in 2012.
Moventas says it worked closely with developer First Wind to understand the failure modes and the limitations in addressing those failures up-tower. In July, Moventas' Big Spring SkyService team successfully completed the first repair within four days, extending the life of the gearbox.
The challenge, Moventas notes, was to develop the special tools as well as lifting and holding devices to access the upper housing half and intermediate gear assemblies.
