July 4, 2014
England

Vibrations strike down EDF turbines

4 July 2014 by Patrick Smith | Windpower Offshore | www.windpoweroffshore.com

Turbines at the Teesside wind farm off England’s east coast have been shut down in batches over the last six months as Siemens attempts to deal with issues relating to vibrations in the turbine towers.

Operator EDF said that Siemens began carrying out investigations in January into the effects of the vibrations on the transformer housings at the 62MW project, when all of the turbines were stopped.

Since then a number of the SWT 2.3-93 turbines have been turned back on and off in batches in order to ensure “safe working conditions”, a spokesperson told Windpower Monthly.

Siemens is carrying out an analysis into the effects of the vibrations on the transformer housings located outside the base of the turbines towers.

The design of the power module installation and supporting beams within the turbines is specific to Teesside and so should not be experienced at other wind farms.

However, EDF said that faults similar to this are not unusual for offshore wind farms, “technical issues and ongoing turbine maintenance are not uncommon for complex projects of this nature,” said a spokesperson.

Siemens declined to comment further when contacted.

The wind farm is located 1.5 kilometres from the Yorkshire coast and was brought online in 2013.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/07/04/vibrations-strike-down-edf-turbines/