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Turbine Blade Transport- Ride Like The Wind
"Huge bladed wind turbines rotate on their towers near-weightlessly – but before these behemoths are able to generate electricity at dizzying heights they have to complete an arduous journey. The transportation of wind power systems is packed with challenges – and is never routine business.”
- Kay Dohnke, writer
Wind Energy Background
Wind energy is becoming more and more critical to the power industry sector. In 2019 wind met 15% of the EU’s power demand on average and is expected to grow its share in the following years.
According to the IEA (International Energy Agency), wind is expected to become the number one source of power in Europe by 2027. Some estimates released by the EU Commission suggest that by 2050 wind power will meet more than half of Europe’s power demand.
Increasing demand for wind energy comes hand in hand with the need for more powerful wind turbines with longer rotor blades. The latest generation wind turbines are larger than any previously seen, and it seems that this trend will continue for as long as possible.
Transportation Challenge
Wind farms are usually located in rural areas. The only way to reach wind farms is to drive through old country towns with narrow streets or through wooden areas with limited rotation angle. Due to these limitations, it is becoming more challenging to maneuver wind turbine components such as rotor blades through those areas.
To overcome this challenge, the equipment being used to transport those components is evolving, and there are a number of new products designed to transport them.
Blade Lifter
One of the new products is the BladeMAX650. The BladeMAX650 is a special adapter that gives the ability to lift the wind blade tip at an angle of 0 to 83 degrees. Thanks to this feature, blades can be transported safely and efficiently in hard-to-reach places.
Apart from lifting, it can also rotate the blade by 360 degrees around its axis. The last optional modification enables maximum side rotation of up to 20 degrees and is frequently used in built-up areas.
This blade adapter is mounted on a self-propelled modular vehicle or towed modular trailer with a maximum load capacity of 650mT. With such load capacity, the adapter is suitable for blades longer than 80m and therefore, can move the latest mega wind turbine blades.
Thanks to the stability control system, the center of gravity remains more stable when the blade moves from vertical to horizontal and therefore doesn’t require additional counterweights.
An example, GE Renewable Energy uses its “smaller sibling” FTV 300/500 for transportation of rotor blades for onshore projects in Germany. This year a blade lifter will transport 24 blades, of which 15 blades are dedicated to the new cypress generation 5.3 and 5.5 megawatt wind turbines
Advantages
Raising a rotor blade significantly lowers the amount of civil works needed for road modifications. Roads don’t have to be widened, trees don't have to be removed, and new routes do not have to be created. This will positively impact both the economy and the environment.
In the end, discovering this new cost-effective and environmental-friendly way to transport the wind turbine components is directly aligned to the ecological philosophy of renewable energy as we know it.
Contributor: Stepan Basta
References
https://windeurope.org/about-wind/wind-energy-today/
https://www.schaeffler-tomorrow.com/tomorrow/341/index.html
https://www.cometto.com/technology/bladelifter/
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