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[Lizzie Zoom]

It has been announced today that the wind turbines in the World's biggest group, The London Array, off the coast of Kent, are suffering from serious corrosion on their leading edges.

Apparently it is going to cost "millions" to rectify 140 sets of blades.

This has happened just 3 years after construction, when the blades were meant to last at least 20 years.  Oh, dear!

[Bigron]

Just goes to confirm that technical decisions are best left in politicians' hands!

NOT!


Ron.

[STEMO]

If they do them one at a time, it could turn into a Forth Bridge kind of job.

[Andy B]

...... it could turn into a Forth Bridge kind of job.

They've finished painting the Forth Bridge 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-16137688/never-ending-forth-bridge-painting-finishes

[Andy B]

...
This has happened just 3 years after construction, when the blades were meant to last at least 20 years.  Oh, dear!

Oh dear oh dear ... 

 I hope they got a written guarantee from the manufacturer's 

[Lizzie Zoom]

...
This has happened just 3 years after construction, when the blades were meant to last at least 20 years.  Oh, dear!

Oh dear oh dear ... 

 I hope they got a written guarantee from the manufacturer's

Apparently they have trouble elsewhere with the blades, but they have promised full support to help put them right, although nothing yet said about financial compensation/meeting the repair bill!

[Bigron]

Just like the warranty we get with pothole repairs that pop out again after a week?

Ron.

[DrAndyB]

This is not the first issue with offshore turbines !, Especially blade corrosion !

I know of some of the early Danish offshore ones with issues with the 'new' (at the time !) Step up transformers ! These are located in the base of the tower and all were replaced by helicopter.

Glad I wasn't paying that repair bill 

[Kevin Wood]

Oh, dear! It sounds almost as if someone's been spraying them constantly with salt water. Oh, wait!..

[Varche]

Fear ye not the taxpayer wont have to pay, it will becovered by warranty. 

[Sir Tigger KC]

Sand 'em down a bit, slap on a coat of Hammerite and that'll be alright! 

[78bex]

They musy have used some dodgy plastic  somewhere in the process. Fibreglass boat hulls last for years, I wonder if the gel coat was skimped on to save weight 

[Viral_Jim]

As always with new technology, or rather technology with new applications there will be issues. I suspect the repair cost will pale into insignificance at the side of the ever growing cost of our latest nuclear installation.

However, thank goodness that has nothing to do with renewable energy, so therefore we don’t scrutinise the cost, or the mess, or, well anything else come to think of it.   

[biggriffin]

A friend who used to be involved with the putting up of windfarms, offshore and in land, said the maintenance, installation costs out weigh the the money they earn.
So they are proper politics, cost more to run then save.

[Lizzie Zoom]

Sand 'em down a bit, slap on a coat of Hammerite and that'll be alright! 

From what we are told the firm that produces the blades are now installing some form of rubber or plastic edge to each blade.

[ronnyd]

Just build half a dozen new nuclear power stations, problem solved. (Wait for the tree huggers)

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

I would agree, as long as they aren't built by the Chinese, run by the French, and UK consumers aren't charged an arm and a leg for electricity.
When Nuclear was first announced as the future for our energy needs, the Govt. said it would be so cheap to produce it wouldn't be worth the paper and admin costs of sending out bills. 
Maybe we should round up all those middle class lefties who still wont let go of "the hateful crimes by the Thatcherite state against the miners" and send them underground to dig coal. 

[Doctor Gollum]

If the unions hadn't been so greedy, our coal would still be competitive

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

It would, but the greens would have outlawed digging it up long ago. 
It wasn't just greed with Scargill. He used the Union to try and overthrow the democratically elected Govt.
He also feathered his own nest, of course, like any good socialist would, and just about bankrupted his beloved union in the process.
A hateful individual.

[zirk]

Probably my Cranky Mind, but when ever I see one of those Wind Turbine thingys I always think (or try and work out) what the actual speed is of the leading edge of the Blade, then after some considerable consideration, normally about 20 seconds the theme always moves into, I wonder how long Someone would last being strapped to one of them at the edge? 

I reckon about 5 mins before passing out on a good spinner, probably about 15 mins before your Body and Brain just totally give up the ghost. 

[Sir Tigger KC]

If the unions hadn't been so greedy, our coal would still be competitive

No it wouldn't.  In the 1980's our coal couldn't compete with coal from Australia and South Africa.  The unions wanted the government to subsidise the industry and the government refused.  Bear in mind that this was before the Iron Curtain fell and China opened up, so imagine the cost if they had subsidised the coal industry so it could compete with Australia etc, but then had to compete with Poland and China as well! 

[New POD]

I had a 6 Month contract with an Electronics Manufacturing Company Near stoke on trent, who did the power converters for Siemens. 

Very interesting. Especially the analysis where salt water was still present in the converter, after they dipped it in the sea and then installed it and then attempted to put a few thousand volts through it.  We declined to pay on that one.

[Tony H]

I would agree, as long as they aren't built by the Chinese, run by the French, and UK consumers aren't charged an arm and a leg for electricity.
When Nuclear was first announced as the future for our energy needs, the Govt. said cheap toit would be so  produce it wouldn't be worth the paper and admin costs of sending out bills. 
Maybe we should round up all those middle class lefties who still wont let go of "the hateful crimes by the Thatcherite state against the miners" and send them underground to dig coal. 

On that point they did not factor in the decommissioning costs in there calculations to take it down to a base level I run a catering business and it would be like me providing a meal but not allowing for the cost of clearing up and doing the dishes!!!

[Rods2]

I would agree, as long as they aren't built by the Chinese, run by the French, and UK consumers aren't charged an arm and a leg for electricity.
When Nuclear was first announced as the future for our energy needs, the Govt. said it would be so cheap to produce it wouldn't be worth the paper and admin costs of sending out bills. 
Maybe we should round up all those middle class lefties who still wont let go of "the hateful crimes by the Thatcherite state against the miners" and send them underground to dig coal. 

During the Beast from the East storm 67% of our energy was provided by fossil fuels and less than 1% from wind farms. Once the coal and gas fired power stations have been shut down in the next decade, get used to freezing during the winter either from no power being available due to regular power grid collapses or you can't afford much at £1.20 to £1.80 per kwh. This is where the climate fraudsters and green fantasists are taking us. Once you start doing the calculations for renewables and EROEI going from 5:1 for fossil fuels to 1:10 against for intermittent energy supplies to make them have always available reliability like we have with our own daily intake of energy food, you realise what complete clap trap dangle berries these well meaning idiots and money making fraudsters peddle to the gullible.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Leading edge blade erosion has been known about for some time and is worse off shore.

The ones in that array would have been considered to have a 5 years ish life, latest tech can get ten years.

I do know there are coatings that can be retrospectively applied to extend the life of the blades, I will quiz my blade expert next week when I see him (he runs a large blade test facility for a big player in the wind turbine market)

[Mr Gav]

Probably my Cranky Mind, but when ever I see one of those Wind Turbine thingys I always think (or try and work out) what the actual speed is of the leading edge of the Blade, then after some considerable consideration, normally about 20 seconds the theme always moves into, I wonder how long Someone would last being strapped to one of them at the edge? 

I reckon about 5 mins before passing out on a good spinner, probably about 15 mins before your Body and Brain just totally give up the ghost. 

I was told a few years ago that it was 190mph, i didn`t believe them so I googled it and google came up with the same speed.

It really doesn`t look that fast 

[Lizzie Zoom]

Probably my Cranky Mind, but when ever I see one of those Wind Turbine thingys I always think (or try and work out) what the actual speed is of the leading edge of the Blade, then after some considerable consideration, normally about 20 seconds the theme always moves into, I wonder how long Someone would last being strapped to one of them at the edge? 

I reckon about 5 mins before passing out on a good spinner, probably about 15 mins before your Body and Brain just totally give up the ghost. 

I was told a few years ago that it was 190mph, i didn`t believe them so I googled it and google came up with the same speed.

It really doesn`t look that fast 

That amazes me to

That would explain in part why corrosion on the leading edge can be such a problem.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Well the Vestas off shore blades are 82m long and the new GE one is 110m long.

Rotation speed is 10-20 RPM for a large one so its easy enough to work out the tip speed

[STEMO]

110m blade = 691 circumference. 10 revs per minute = 6910m travelled in one minute X 60 =  414690m or 414.69Km in one hour. Or~260mph.

Double that for 20 rpm.

[Doctor Gollum]

That would smart...