BIG CHANGES IN MATURING WIND INDUSTRY

Wind Energy Update: End of Warranty Requirements for Wind Energy
March 24, 2012 (San Francisco Chronicle)

"Over 100,000MW of wind energy capacity is set to come out of warranty by 2020 forcing operators to either repower or retrofit their wind farms or lose money… the Retrofitting, Reliability & Repowering report 2012…[found that of the countries with turbines] between 8 and 20 years of age and either entering or approaching post-warranty status… China leads the way with over 40,000MW capacity followed by the US with 37,000, Germany with 15,000MW and the UK's 4000MW…

"The report…assesses how wind farm operators can best measure the reliability of their operations post warranty and… what they can do…[R]etrofitting…[which is] improving…existing turbines efficiency and capacity by fitting new technology such as better grid connections or the latest blade designs…[is compared with] repowering…[which is] decommissioning…existing turbines and building [more modern turbines]…"

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"…[O]perators need… [to understand] failures that occur when a turbine warranty ends and the [productivity and profitability impacts of paying] for their repairs… 42% of events after a warranty ends are related to component failures…21%...relate to control system failures…

"…The cumulative number of failures in a year for a single wind turbine is 2.43 with the most affected parts being the Electrical System (0.57 failures per year) and the Electronic Control (0.43 failures per year). The most reliable component is the drive train…[but] the biggest loss of downtime, lethal to site profitability, at an average of 6 days is [from] the gearbox…"