Availon, a multi-brand independent service provider for wind turbines, has successfully kept the U.S. wind farms it has under O&M contracts at historical levels of availability. The most challenging wind site, which remains undisclosed at this time, is now continuously running at above 98.4% availability. Other less challenging wind farms enjoy availability levels between 99.4 %…

Vestas has acquired UpWind Solutions and its subsidiaries, a leading independent service provider in North America. With about 310 employees, UpWind Solutions currently services wind-power plants in nine U.S. states with a total capacity of more than 3 GW. The wind-power plants under UpWind’s service represent a diverse customer base and include turbines from a…

GEV Wind Power’s first set of onshore trials for its innovative blade-maintenance Habitat have been successfully completed, presenting a major milestone for the company. The Habitat enables technicians to conduct essential repairs on remote wind turbines while remaining sheltered from the elements. It also provides O&M companies a greater scope throughout the year to schedule repairs because…

Availon, a multi-brand independent service provider for wind turbines, announced a record year of wind O&M assets. The company has added 620 MW to its global portfolio of wind-turbine generators under operation and maintenance contracts. Mature European markets such as Germany, Spain and Italy have a great number of wind farms coming out of warranty and represent the lion’s…

Siemens has been awarded an order from Apex Clean Energy to supply, support installation, and provide long-term service for 66 wind turbines for the Grant Wind project in Grant County, Oklahoma. The Grant Wind project follows an announcement earlier this year that Siemens will provide turbines, service, and financing for Apex Clean Energy’s Kay Wind…

Siemens has signed a long-term agreement with the U.S. energy company Minnesota Power to provide service and maintenance for 149 D3-platform wind turbines installed at the Bison Wind Energy Center, located near New Salem, North Dakota. Under terms of the agreement, Siemens will provide 10 years of service and maintenance for the D3 turbines installed…

Molycorp, Inc. will transition its Mountain Pass rare earth facility to a “care and maintenance” mode while it plans to continue serving its rare earth oxide customers via its production facilities in Estonia and China. Customers of the company’s magnetic materials and rare earth-based water treatment products will not be impacted. Rare earth production at…

The perennial problem of uncertain time and material costs is being addressed by GEV Wind Power, as the company launches its fixed price blade maintenance service, available to onshore and offshore site owners. A first in the renewables industry, the service is available as part of GEV’s Preventative Maintenance Programme (PMP) and provides site owners…

By using big data Vestas is able to foresee when turbine components are malfunctioning and need maintenance − before they actually do. This was one of the reasons Vestas won Deloitte’s Big Data Award last week at Deloitte’s Information Management Conference, IM2015, in Copenhagen. Vestas uses smart data to optimize maintenance of wind farms all over…

GCube Insurance, a renewable energy underwriter specialist, has launched Beyond Balance Sheets: Unscheduled Maintenance Protection. This unique, first-to-market service enables financial directors and risk management teams to more effectively manage their long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) budgets and rapidly reduce the requirement for excess working project capital. Project owners now take an increasing interest in managing…

Not too many years ago, working up-tower on a wind turbine was challenging if not impossible. Nacelles weren’t designed for easy access. If anything needed fixing inside, whether it was a high-speed shaft or an intermediate bearing, down came the gearbox. What Mark Eagle, General Manager of Moventas, remembers most about those early days in…

Newark element14 has introduced the CK Ecotronic range of stamped steel pliers, cutters, and strippers that have been designed with electrostatic discharge safety and ergonomics in mind. Each product’s blades feature special tool steel that are hardened for long-term cutting performance, while the handles are designed to dissipate ESD to protect components against failure. Additional…

With its unique triple certification and high-tech details, the SeaWind immersion suit breaks new barriers with its many fields of application. Never before has a survival suit achieved such a wide range of certification, with triple approvals from SOLAS, ISO, and EASA. The flexibility and wide range of applications makes this Norwegian-made suit from Hansen…

GEV Wind Power will be exhibiting its cutting-edge advancements in turbine blade maintenance at EWEA Offshore in Copenhagen on March 10-12, 2015. The company’s innovative Habitat represents a major milestone in the maintenance of remote wind turbines, enabling engineers to complete essential works in a weather-protected environment. With the simultaneous launch of a camera-based blade…

There are three methods for monitoring wind-turbine operations: wind-conditions monitoring, performance monitoring, and condition monitoring. The terms are thrown around so much that many in the industry are confused. Although the terms describe different tasks, they have the same goal: performance and reliability of the wind assets. An automotive analogy may be useful. For instance,…

A quick-acting braking system that arrests falls within inches, not feet, has safety managers retiring conventional shock-absorbing lanyards. Instead, they favor compact, lightweight, personal fall limiters (PFLs), also known as self-retracting lifelines. As manufacturers introduce PFLs with 100% tie-off fall protection (dual or twin legs), workers can move safely anywhere on a job site without…

Transcat Inc, a distributor of professional grade handheld test and measurement instruments says it has acquired the Newark calibration services business. Newark will market Transcat’s calibration services to electronic design engineers, maintenance, repair and operations engineers, and industrial buyers.  Newark has also contracted Transcat to provide its calibration services for its own test and measurement…

Like stately giants, utility wind turbines are appearing further afield and offshore. As designers tackle the job of building longer, heavier, higher performing turbine blades, wind-farm operators and owners are faced with a different challenge– keeping aging blades in optimum condition. Traditionally, less attention has been paid to the repair and upkeep of turbine blades…

Two wind industry veterans– Hempel USA Inc. and Rope Partner Inc. – are partnering to provide full-service maintenance to the wind turbine market for infield tower coating repair, and maintenance. When coatings repair and maintenance is required on a turbine, Hempel is a ready to supply high-performance, environmental friendly coatings, can provide a complete package…