GEV Show Wind Turbine Maintenance Rig

As anyone involved in wind power knows, one of the more expensive and time-consuming parts of the business is maintenance of the tower, nacelle and most importantly the blades of a wind turbine. Climbing up the inside of a wind turbine mast (or worse still, the outside for older masts) can be a pain- and there seems to be no substitute for tying yourself down before emerging onto the nacelle- especially in poor weather. Massive cranes can be a solution but GEV has come up with a neat idea to make your wind turbine maintenance more repairer-friendly. And cheaper!

GEV inflatable wind turbine housing 300x1551 GEV Show Wind Turbine Maintenance Rig

The revolutionary GEV innovation is an inflatable structure which is fixed to a blade access platform (the company is currently working with Power Climber Wind in Belgium to develop the initial platform integration) and will feature a sleeve and top seal that fixes to the blade. Then as the platform moves down the blade the sleeve extends, maintaining a sealed, climate-controlled and waterproof environment within. Why wasn’t it thought of before?

GEV wind turbine habitat1 GEV Show Wind Turbine Maintenance Rig

Alastair Gadney, pictured below, is the Projects Director at GEV Wind Power. He said that many blade repairs use resins and leading-edge protection tapes. These can all require can  “curing” temperatures and other environmental conditions that are all too often a challenge to achieve in all wind turbine environments- particularly offshore. The wind, rain snow and extremes of temperatures as wind turbines are sited in more and more remote (but wind-rich) locations can all make repairs take longer, cost more and last less long. So a bubble environment protection is worth its weight in gold.

Alistair Gadney1 GEV Show Wind Turbine Maintenance Rig

GEV’s “Blade Habitat” is designed to dramatically reduce the number of cancelled maintenance operations- over 50 percent of which result from adverse weather conditions and the device already rated for use at the same wind speeds as rope access regulations. It is currently in the prototype development phase with field trials scheduled for early in 2015. GEV Wind Power will be undertaking modular testing of the system at the Myers Hill wind turbine site in East Kilbride, Scotland.  There is already strong interest from OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) seeking to conduct their own trials and so the company is aiming for commercial  manufacture later in 2015.

GEV habitat1 GEV Show Wind Turbine Maintenance Rig

David Fletcher is the Managing Director of the GEV Group and he explained the thinking behind the design:

“Habitat structures have worked well in the oil and gas sector for many years and we decided to migrate the idea across to offshore wind. Wind speeds, rain, temperature and humidity all significantly impact on an engineer’s ability to complete scheduled maintenance. However, when you also factor in the length of time it takes to physically get an engineer out to a wind farm, which is often a round trip of several hours, the window of opportunity available to undertake any maintenance is very narrow indeed. Our new offshore habitat structure will mitigate the weather risk and enable engineers, once on-site, to work unhindered in a controlled environment.”

GEV Wind Power is a division of the GEV Group and introduced its turbine maintenance habitat structure at this year’s RenewableUK show, following a £50,000 grant from the Grant programme Supply Chain for Offshore Renewable Energy (SCORE).

Talking about the grant Mr Fletcher said:

“The appointment of a full time, dedicated project director wouldn’t have been possible without SCORE funding and having successfully recruited for the position, the project is now moving ahead at a very exciting pace.” 

Maintenance of wind turbines can be more of a headache than their actual erection and commissioning. A maintenance crew can take a long time to get to a remote wind farm sire- this is often a round trip of several hours- meaning the window of opportunity available to undertake any maintenance is extremely narrow. And if the weather is inclement then the whole trip might be wasted. This bubble allows the maintenance crew to work unhindered in a closed and controlled environment.