1800 CET
Thirteenth international trade and technology event is almost over, with the doors already closed on conference sessions and many business visitors heading home. The organisers report over 35,000 visitors, over 1,100 exhibitors. Visitors have seen brand new developments, with perhaps a greater focus on improvements and tweaks to current products, technologies, as well as data and service offerings. Tomorrow's jobs fair will bring a whole new set of visitors.
1720 CET
Just spoken to Fuhrlander CEO Werner Heer about the company's decision to file for insolvency. Very sad. The interview is within this story.
1700 CET
Sometimes the stories from wind industry shows are not what you expect. Most surprising so far is the one about the wind turbine blade that was connected uo with a lamb inside. The unfortunate animal must have wandered in overnight and the installer didn't check it before continuing the job in the morning. Weight imbalance led to the discovery, so the story goes.
1400 CET
Talking to Moog, pitch control experts. Company TUV certification for its Servo Drive feathering control for blades was announced this week. Company delighted that its product meets safety standards and points to difficulty for component makers to achieve certification because of a lack of clarifity on the requirements.
1300 CET
And still on the topic of blades, Altertec Renovables, a Spanish maintenance company, is demonstrating its brand new toy - the aerial Aracnocoptero. Remote controlled helicopter that flys up alongside the blade and captures close images and video of the blade. Much better view than telescope from the ground, much quicker than stopping turbine for platform inspection, says company. Takes two people one hour to check. One flys machine, other watches video with goggles and presses for image when required. Images records GPS location including altitude to direct repairer. Manufacturers showing interest, says company. Is this a growing trend? GE has robot that crawls up blades. Could be good, but only if owners use these to replace binocular checks and still climb to the blade and do full touch-incuded checks sometimes.
0930 CET
Seen some shocking pictures of damaged blades from Nordic blade repair specialist Bladefence, who berate some owners and manufacturers for not taking maintenence seriously enough. Lightning strike, leading-edge wear, loose items inside blade, and poor manufacturing can all result in extensive damage to blades if not attended to soon enough. Was shown a bolt that was found loose inside a blade. They reckon it had been there for two years, bashing the inside and destroying all the sensor equipment, until a crack finally came through from inside and owners called in the repair team.
Summary of day 3
Video interview with GE general manager Europe Stefan Ritter about the company's aims over the next year, and what it is looking to promote at Husum. US blade specialist, Modular Wind talk about it latest 45-metre blade and prospects for the US market.
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