EWEA Offshore: Leading edge erosion is a big issue

DENMARK: Significant blade erosion could cause up to a 5% power loss each year, according to Blade Dynamics sales and marketing manager Theo Botha.

by David Weston 12 March 2015

Botha said leading edge blade erosion is a big issue for the industry that needs to be addressed.

"O&M is becoming a more interesting and significant topic as the number of turbines in operation increases, and we are going to see O&M as an increasing trend.

"Leading edge erosion, although it sounds small, it is a very big issue."

Botha also highlighted the need to control blade production, which is the biggest issue facing the industry.

"In general, its not the performance of the material, it's the actual quality control or the ability to control the manufacturing process. It is the things that are not quite right that are the things that fail," he said.