Offshore Wind Fiasco: Renewables Industry Faces $Billions In Compensation For Early Repairs
By Paul Homewood
From GWPF:
Ørsted must repair up to 2,000 wind turbine blades because the leading edge of the blades have become worn down after just a few years at sea.
The company has a total of 646 wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa, which may potentially be affected to some extent, Ørsted confirmed.
The wind turbine owner will not disclose the bill, but says that the financial significance is “small”.
Siemens Gamesa also does not want to comment on the costs, but the company’s Danish subsidiary has just provided 4.5 billion Danish Krone ($750 million) or 16% of its revenue to guarantee its commitments. […]
Ørsted’s problems mean, among other things, that almost 300 blades at its offshore wind farm at Anholt have to be taken down after just a few years of operation, sailed ashore and transported to Siemens Gamesa’s factory in Aalborg.
However, it is far from just the Anholt Park that is affected. The blades at several British Ørsted offshore wind farms must also be repaired after just a few years on the water.
The total bill is uncertain, but according to Finans’s information, the manufacturer’s warranty typically covers the first five years. However, there has been disagreement between Ørsted and Siemens Gamesa as to whether the problems are covered by the guarantee or are a case of ordinary wear and tear.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Not to worry folks. They will just up the subsidies and plonk it on our bills. And look at all those extra jobs created.
I’ll pay, I’ll pay, can I pay please?
Oh, I will.
It’s not like you have a choice it it?
If it was ‘ordinary wear and tear’ every wind turbine of a similar age would be in need of repair, or getting that way.
On the leading edge . The edge that hits, at speed, the bone and muscle of migrating geese every spring and autumn . Bound to leave a mark . But all in a good cause and the taxpayer will reimburse the energy companies . No problem then- unless you are a poor goose or a poor human.
I guess they will run out of migrating geese…eventually.
I suspect this is only the start of the problems with offshore wind turbines (not forgetting the difficulties involved in carrying out any repairs/maintenance in an unforgiving and harsh environment). The next problem will probably arise from unmonitored fatigue issues, arising from all those vibrations and other loads brought on by operation in varying wind conditions (speed, gusts, wind shear and changing direction). It should be fun to watch.
” It should be fun to watch”
Except with these turbines being (in many cases) considerable distances from the coast, we won’t actually be able to observe what’s going on! – The cynic in me considers that was the plan, all along…
Fatigue is the silent killer that has not been addressed, but, it will have a significant monetary consequence for the industry and the consumers. Salt water installations are more vulnerable as was found out in the oil and gas offshore installations.
“Salt air” such as wind carried froth or spume increasing wear? Salt is some pretty abrasive stuff. Something is causing this and I don’t think it’s a manufacturing defect.
RAH:
Imagine a boat travelling at 170 m.p.h. On the outside of the fibreglass body would be 30 microns** of gelcoat (about 0.01 inch) to protect it from the elements. How long do you think it would last?
Turbine blade construction is based on fibreglass boat construction. The shiny outside comes from a fairly rigid formulation that resists chemical attack. A tougher outside usually means less glossand selling appeal, and also likely faster penetration by water.
** a human hair is about 90 microns diameter.
A boat hull would be much closer to the water than those blades. I’m just wondering about the actual mechanism of how it happens as compared to the blades on land based units.
More unintended consequences that could have been avoided with proper testing. Unfortunately the fire, ready, aim methodology of the environmentalists does not include reality or common sense.
What? Another issue?
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-offshore-wind-flaw/flaw-hits-hundreds-of-eu-offshore-wind-turbines-idUKTRE63M3H720100423
http://renews.biz/108037/eon-victorious-in-robin-rigg-case/
Last year I reported how Robin Rigg had caused massive changes in the sands of the inner Solway and now we see that the village of Powfoot on the Scottish shore is rapidly being undercut by the redirected ebbs and flows that are resulting from the effects of ever shifting channels.
When the villagers wake up to what is happening around them, there will be an almighty legal battle, one that past experience tells us they will lose.
I can’t remember the thread nor the blog, Pointman maybe, the conversation concerned offshore whirlygigs, an anecdote from one marine engineer chipped in – these ‘turbines’ – he didn’t like the term, were/are supposed to have a “guaranteed” lifespan of some ~ 20-25 years, although the marine engineer guy, reckoned if they lasted between 7 or 8 years he’d be stunned – yep he was being optimistic.
Chinese steel (oxymoron?) notwithstanding, these things cannot withstand the north sea in full force and ask any bod about salt water, sun, algae, a sandpaper effect ala grit pebbles lifed and smashed against surfaces by wave power and just ‘the briney’ sea water, etc it is so corrosive.
Someone will come a cropper – (Orsten/Dong whatev) someone……………. is going to go bust, and guess who will pick up the pieces, literally.
Is anyone considering the human cost; the engineers who work on these contraptions? Have there been any major accidents/fatalities? Would the media report if there were?
And where does all that eroded plastic from the blades go? So the windmills are adding to the latest supposedly ecological disaster scare – micro plastic pollution in the oceans!
What was wrong with Salter’s Duck?
Since these wind Turbines have been an unqualified failure, i propose the blades all be removed and the remaining towers be turned into multi-storied bird houses to make up for all the birds killed by the Turbines.
Not that I am an engineer or have any pretensions to that art, but I predicted the wholesale failure of wind turbines installed at any particular time as they would all be made to the same tolerances , cloned. Different discreet parts of the windmills will have different shelf-lives and so we can look forward to a rolling program of failures depending on that variation, which could end up as the snake eating its tail mimicking the old saw about the Forth bridge. But still, like traffic jams, these madcap schemes will persist as long as the bottomless pockets of the man on the Clapham Omnibus allow. He is the only one that suffers from gratuitous spending; as that joke perpetuated by Spike Milligan opined, “Open your wallet and say after me, help yourself”.