Author: Francesco Miceli
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Wind turbine blades damage – an introduction
I have discussed in another post the different type of damages that a wind turbine blade can suffer and the various detection systems. There is an extensive list of potential problems: cracks, delamination, debonding, erosion of the leading edge (the first area of the blade to “see the wind”) are some of the issues observed. This variety…
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RUTE precast modular wind turbine foundation
Some days ago I have been contacted by Doug Krause, founder of RUTE – a green start up proposing an interesting solution for the wind turbine foundation. Taking inspiration from the technology used in bridge construction RUTE is proposing a system of post-tensioned beams connected to a central hub. Each beam has an anchor system…
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Wind farm optimization algorithms
I have always been amazed by the number of published papers, master thesis and documents focusing on the use of algorithms to optimize the layout of a wind farm. Some of them were proposed more than 25 years ago, showing a continuous, sustained interest in the topic. I guess that the reason for such abundance…
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How much does it cost a wind turbine?
The easy answer to this question is “Today it costs less then yesterday. And probably tomorrow it will cost less than today”. Today (April 2019) the average price is around 700.000€ per MW – that is, expect to pay around 3 ML€ for a 4 MW wind turbine. That’s a huge reduction when you consider…
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Wood towers for wind turbines
I always believed that wood towers for wind turbines were a solution possible only in small, domestic WTGs (somewhere around 10 kW to maybe maximum 100 kW). There are several example available, for instance this product of InnoVentum. Well, I was wrong: I see that some years ago (2012) a Vensys 77 1,5 MW turbine…
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Wind farm project management: PRICE2 vs PMP
In another post I have discussed my experience with the PMP certification and its (somehow weak) relationship with wind farm project management. In a nutshell, several processes and concepts are not directly applicable given the peculiarity of our industry. Said that, I believe that the PMP has a value, because it explain in detail a lot of…
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Concrete tower assembly in Chile
An interesting video on the use of concrete towers in Chile. Among the benefits of this solution the creation of local jobs (several hundred for factory) and the increase of local content (the amount of goods and services provided locally, an important parameter in some tenders). Concrete towers are especially cost effective when the…
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Long term instrumented monitoring of wind turbine foundations cracks evolution
Some weeks ago I have discovered that, as I am currently enrolled as a university student (getting “slowly but steady” a second degree in Economics) I have full access to the Elsevier database. This is an enormous amount of information, including all the best scientific papers and technical articles published by industry journals. I am…
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Over and over and over again: serial defect clause
The serial defect clause is a warranty frequently requested by customers. It belongs to a classic “tryptic” of warranties allocating risk on the turbine suppliers: General warranty, for defect in design, manufacturing, installation, etc. Power curve warranty Serial defect warranty Generally speaking, a serial defect is a component defective on a significant number of turbines….
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Transfer of title & transfer of risk
Transfer of title and transfer of risk are 2 key concepts in wind farms contracts (and, presumably, in many other comparable businesses). They appear in both EPC and Supply Only agreements. This is what they usually means: Transfer of title (ToT): the ownership (of the entire turbine or of one of the component of the…