National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Enercon monitors all E126 turbines following fault

GERMANY: Enercon has had to install monitoring devices in all its E126 7.5MW turbines worldwide following a blade break last December, Windpower Monthly has learned.

The German manufacturer has so far been unable to determine the cause behind the the snapping of a turbine blade at the Schneebergerhof wind farm in Rhineland-Palatinate in the south-west of the country.

Juwi, which operates the wind farm, said that following intensive investigations, Enercon could not find the cause of the fault because the remnant of the blade was too badly damaged.

As such, the company has fitted devices to all 56 installed E126 turbines that will alert operators to any undue stresses on the blades and allow them to take evasive action to avoid a repeat of the incident.

“In order to prevent accidents of this nature in future, Enercon has installed a new sensor system in all E-126 wind turbines. This system detects any incipient damage and sends a notification to Enercon and, for Juwi-owned wind turbines, to the control centre in Wörrstadt,” said an Enercon spokesperson.

In addition, the repaired turbine, which is now operating again, will be re-inspected after a “certain period”, Enercon said.

At the time of the break, the German manufacturer said that the broken blade was found approximately 40 metres from the turbine, adding that it has carried out checks of all similar machines as a precautionary measure and that no irregularities had been detected.

The E126 turbine, which is still the largest onshore turbine, features segmented steel-composite hybrid blades.