Vandalism and theft are having an immediate effect on the profitability of wind turbine generators. Apart from the damage, burglaries cause unforeseeable yield losses, generating massive financial costs. “The sum resulting from repairs and downtime per occurrence can easily reach six-digit figures”, explains Gerrit Baerwald, Technical Management at wpd windmanager GmbH & Co KG. “Access for offenders is often made easy by remote turbine sites and insecure standard doors lacking special burglary protection.”
Because manufacturer-dependent solutions are often costly and sometimes not available for older turbines, wpd windmanager has developed own safety solutions for all turbine types.
Because manufacturer-dependent solutions are often costly and sometimes not available for older turbines, wpd windmanager has developed own safety solutions for all turbine types. The company’s product is intended these solutions in-house and will commission the individual protective measures to a steelwork company for production.
“We are focusing primarily on mechanical burglary protection systems, among them e.g. veneers for filter inlets or special locking systems for doors”, says Philipp Lüers, Technical Management at the company.
The advantages of mechanical solutions are obvious: No unnecessary follow-up costs will arise for on-going maintenance or monitoring, and compared to electronic solutions, these measures for burglary protection are accepted by most insurance companies.
Furthermore, the use of galvanized and powder-coated materials guarantees for a long lifetime. Because the preventive protection measures were introduced, the number of burglaries at about 2,000 wind turbines being supervised by wpd windmanager has decreased significantly.
For additional information: www.windmanager.de/en
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