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amplitude correction) curves, showing the depth and sensitivity of problems. The evidence is therefore fairly unarguable.
ACTING ON EVIDENCE
“I personally believe that failure to test comes down mainly to cost. Companies are holding back and cutting back on reporting problems, which then don’t receive adequate attention,” he concluded.
PROACTIVE ACTION ESSENTIAL
During ultrasonic NDT, defect reports typically reveal serious, invisible faults in essential components and welds, particularly those supporting blades and towers where the greatest loads are carried. It may be down to inexperience in this relatively young industry that some companies remain slow to react when defects are found but the evidence available through NDT include objective echo-graphs with DAC (distance
Scott Telfer, MD of Prontoport added, “Many of our technicians are reporting that incidences where problems are reported are increasingly challenged or ignored. Even aside from the health and safety aspect, this makes no sense at all since the cost of replacing a turbine which has been damaged to the point of being unviable, massively outweighs the cost of regular testing. “I also believe that the industry is sticking its head in the sand by not acknowledging that regular testing is an essential part of the health and safety process, in the way that it has become part of ongoing maintenance within other industries. “The nightmare scenario is that we have to have a major accident or fatality for this to become law. At the moment, the industry has the opportunity to adopt a code of practice which would safeguard the integrity of each and every turbine, but it simply isn’t happening in too many cases.”
MOVING FORWARD
On the positive side, as the wind energy industry matures, more site and infrastructure sales are now taking place. Many of these require guarantees to be given before an exchange of ownership takes place. In turn, this requires testing and the full extent of hidden problems may become more documented and recognised as a result.
Prontoport, which provides engineering support, including service and maintenance at over half of the UK’s on and offshore windfarm assets, argues however that the testing and maintenance regime should be established as a procedural requirement. Within the oil & gas industries, best practice requires components to be tested at regular, specified intervals and records kept accordingly. “Until such practices are adopted by the wind energy sector also, we leave ourselves open not only to criticism but to avoidable catastrophe,” Scott concluded.
COMPANY EXPERTISE AND SUPPORT
Prontoport provides a full range of engineering support services to over 50% of the UK’s onshore and offshore wind energy assets. Based in Irvine, Ayrshire, the company also works across Europe and with most major players within the sector. As experts in installation, servicing and maintenance, the company supplies expertise and offers training in a wide range of skills, including radiography; positive material identification; magnetic particle inspection; eddy current and dye penetrant testing for both new and in situ components.
Prontoport Ltd
SCAN/CLICK
MORE INFO
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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