A new project managed by Bladena, called CORTIR, had kicked-off early 2019. The 23 project partners cover the entire value chain i.e. viz. manufacturers (OEM), wind turbine owners (WTO), operational and maintenance, insurance and technology companies as well as two Danish universities that will focus on the research development.

The project’s main deliverable is a development of a COST and RISK tool (CAR-Tool) that aims to improve the decision making for operation and maintenance strategies in the wind industry, with the overall objective being to minimize costs and risk.

On May 13-14th a two-days workshop was successfully arranged by Bladena as part of a CORTIR project. During the first day at Bladena’s offices, the focus was on the current progress of the project, while during the second day the participants had the chance to visit the structural lab of the mechanical engineering department at DTU, where they could visualize and understand the implications of a structural damage on a blade which is common seen in the field.
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Figure 1: Photo taken during the 2nd Workshop day at Technical University of Denmark (DTU) visiting the large-scale test facilities in Lyngby. Left: Andrei Buliga from Bladena, Christian Berggreen from DTU and Peder Munkholm Jacobsen from Global Wind Service. The highlighted area on the right picture represents an embedded damage on the blade (face/sheet debonded from core), picture taken during the process of making this damage.

During the two days, fruitful discussions and networking were held that lead to a clear consensus between the twenty represented parties. A further development in the level of collaboration throughout the whole value chain will support all partners in the focus of reducing the operational cost (OPEX), maintenance and risk, especially towards structurally related blade damages.
It is common practice that when damages and failures occur on blades, the associated costs for repair actions may end up as a dispute between WTOs, OEMs and insurance companies, as the cost is often not included in  the operational budget. Experience from the industry indicates that each player may handle such situations with different strategies.
The overall aim of the CORTIR project is to demonstrate how new advancements and understandings can provide a common strategy platform for the WTOs, the OEMs and the insurance companies, always towards the shared goal to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE).
The demonstration will be made by using the Cost and Risk Tool (CAR-Tool) which constitutes the main deliverable of the CORTIR project. It is a decision support tool and the development will involve a close dialogue with the entire value chain in the wind energy industry.
The project is focused on the financial aspects of the different blades’ defects and how they can efficiently be prevented in order to obtain the optimal maintenance strategy.
 

For further information please visit www.bladena.com , hhtps://cortirproject.weebly.com, and/or contact CORTIR project manager CTO Find Mølholt Jensen +45 53700276  fmj@bladena.com.

I forlængelse af to større projekter (RATZ og LEX) har EUDP besluttet at støtte et nyt projekt under ledelse af Bladena: CORTIR. Projektet gennemføres i samarbejde med 22 danske og udenlandske virksomheder, heriblandt danske virksomheder Vestas, LM Windpower, CODAN, Ørsted, HOFOR, EWII, Global Wind Service, Aalborg Universitet (BYG) og Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (MEK). Projektet blev sat i gang ved et meget velbesøgt opstartsmøde i sidste uge i Roskilde.
Projektet er støttet af Danmarks program energiteknologisk udvikling og demonstration, EUDP. Bestyrelsesformand for EUDP Thea Larsen udtaler:
”Fra EUDP’s side er vi glade for at se, at både den danske industri og store internationale spillere støtter så massivt op omkring det nye projekt CORTIR. Det er et perspektivrigt projekt med partnere som repræsenterer hele værdikæden. Som sådan ligger projektet fint i forlængelse af EUDPs strategi, og vi ser meget frem til at følge projektet.”
På opstartsmødet deltog Vestas, CODAN og Engie i en paneldiskussion, se foto.

​Drøftelsen i panelet og med de 21 fremmødte partnere var meget konstruktiv; der er bred enighed om, at et samarbejde på tværs af værdikæden vil hjælpe alle parter med fortsat at reducere omkostninger for vindmøller i drift. I det aktuelle projekt er det strukturelle skader på vingerne der er fokusområdet, og det er her hvor Bladena som er projektleder har sine faglige kompetencer. Det er også i dette domæne hvor det vurderes, at der er en stigende risiko fordi de stadigt længere vinger indebærer at belastningerne stiger hastigt som vingerne bliver længere. Fokus på de strukturelle udfordringer er derfor vigtig for at imødegå risikoen for større uforudsete omkostninger. Opgaverne her er mangfoldige og løses bedst i et samarbejde på tværs af værdikæden.

​Partnere er: Bladena, Aalborg Universitet (BYG), Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (Mekanikal), Kirt x Thomsen, ECC, Guide2Defect, Codan, Global Wind Service, E.ON, Engie, Hofor, EDF Energy, Equinor (Statoil), Innogy, EWII, Acciona Energy, Arise, Ørsted, Enel, Vector Cuatro (En del af FalckRenewable), LM Windpower, Nordex og Vestas.
CORTIR projektet er et 2-årigt projekt og har et budget på 28,8 millioner kroner hvoraf EUDP støtter med 51%, som alle går til danske virksomheder og universiteter.
Supplerende information er tilgængelig på www.bladena.com og/eller ved kontakt til CORTIR projektleder CTO Find Mølholt Jensen +45 53700276 fmj@bladena.com.

​Having successfully completed two major research projects (RATZ and LEX), Bladena has been successful to continue the collaboration with EUDP and 22 companies in a new 2-years project called CORTIR.
The partners cover the entire value chain, viz. manufacturers (OEM), wind turbine owners (WTO), service, insurance, technology companies as well as two Danish universities. The main deliverable is a new decision support tool (CAR-Tool) that aims at improving the decision making for operation and maintenance strategies in the wind industry; the overall objective being to minimize costs and risk.
At the CORTIR Kick-Off Meeting last week Vestas (OEM), CODAN (insurance company) and Engie (WTO) attended a panel discussion. See photo below:

​The discussions – as well as the very active net-working - with the panel and the 21 participating partners were very constructive. A clear consensus exists between the parties, that a further development in the level of collaboration throughout the whole value chain will support all partners in the focus on reducing the operational cost (OPEX), maintenance and risk, especially structurally related blade damages.
Today, when damages and failures occur on blades, it is semi-unexcepted and often outside the operational budget implying that the associated costs for repair actions may end up as a dispute between WTOs, OEMs and insurance companies. Until now each player has had individual strategies for how to handle such situations, but the overall aim of the current project is to demonstrate how the new developments can provide a common strategy platform for the WTOs, the OEMs and the insurance companies based on the shared goal to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE). The development will involve a close dialogue with the entire value chain in the wind energy industry. The project will focus on the financial aspects of the different blades’ defects and how they can efficiently be prevented and maintained to obtain the optimal strategy both money and time wise.

Partners are: Bladena, AAU Civil Engineering, DTU Mechanical Engineering, Kirt x Thomsen, ECC, Guide2Defect, Codan, Global Wind Service, E.ON, Engie, Hofor, EDF Energy, Equinor (Statoil), Innogy, EWII, Acciona Energy, Arise, Ørsted, Enel, Vector Cuatro (Part of FalckRenewable), LM Windpower, Nordex and Vestas.
EUDP - The Danish Government Scheme for Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program - has awarded financial support to the CORTIR project proposed by a partnership of 21 industry companies and 2 universities headed up by Bladena ApS. The total budget for the project is 28.8 million DKK (3.9 million Euro) and the EUDP support is 51%.
The Chairman of the board of directors in the EUDP-programme, Thea Larsen says: ”From EUDP’s perspective we are pleased to see, that both the Danish industry and large international players substantially support this new project CORTIR. It is a project with large perspective together with partners which represent the entire value chain. This project is in line with the strategy of EUDP and we look very much forward to follow the progress in the project.”
For further information please contact the CORTIR project manager CTO Find Mølholt Jensen +45 53700276 fmj@bladena.com.

EUDP - The Danish Government Scheme for Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program - has awarded financial support to the CORTIR project proposed by a partnership of 21 industry companies and 2 universities headed up by Bladena ApS. The total budget for the project is 28.8 million DKK (3.9 million Euro) and the EUDP support is 51%.

CORTIR - Cost and Risk Tool for Interim and Preventive Repair – includes the development of a sophisticated - yet user-friendly - numerical tool (CAR-Tool) to optimize the management of turbine blade maintenance in terms of risks and costs, with the main focus to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy and secure alignment towards maintenance throughout the full value chain. Early work in this area has illustrated that significant improvements can be achieved by employing an all-encompassing and rigorous tool based on known structural issues.

The CAR-Tool input parameters will be widespread from reliability data to detailed knowledge about structural blade and composite behaviour during operation of the wind turbines. Relating the technical inputs to the cost structures within O&M activities, the tool output will suggest an optimum inspection and maintenance strategy to be used for decision making which is both technically and financially sound.

CORTIR will further demonstrate how blade retrofits can be deployed beneficially in this effort and support the reduction of LCoE by diverting from standard repair solutions. This part of the project includes both experimental and theoretical work.

The project aims at benefiting everyone engaged in the blade maintenance activities, the owners as well as the companies that provide maintenance services to the industry, i.e. manufacturers, wind turbine owners, service companies and insurance companies. The importance of covering the entire value chain is reflected by the comprehensive list companies that participate and sponsor the project.

”We look forward to be part of this project and give our input on how the industry can minimize Risk and O&M cost on blades.” says Finn Thyrring Technical manager from CODAN insurance which are partner in the project.

​Partners are: Bladena, AAU Civil Engineering, DTU Mechanical Engineering, Kirt x Thomsen, ECC, Guide2Defect, Codan, Global Wind Service, E.ON, Engie, Hofor, EDF Energy, Equinor (Statoil), Innogy, EWII, Acciona Energy, Arise, Ørsted, Enel, Vector Cuatro (Part of FalckRenewable), LM Windpower, Nordex and Vestas.

The project will start in January 2019 and it will run for two years.

Additional information is available via the CORTIR project manager Find Mølholt Jensen +45 53700276 fmj@bladena.com.

With more than 18 years of experience in management, administration, operation and maintenance of facilities in the wind industry IMFutuRe is a well-established key player on the Spanish market with a strong portfolio of customers. Seeing many different types of blade damages (both minimal and critical failures) IMFutuRe has expert insight about the increasing problems different blades are facing which is of great value to Bladena.

“We see and hear a lot about the increasing blade failures that challenges the lifetime of blades on the market. But to be able to help prevent these problems we need insight from repair and maintenance experts as they see, in a larger perspective, how the problems physically evolves by being present on site. With our expertise in structural behavior and damages and ImFutuRe’s knowledge on problems occurring on site, we will be able to bring our retrofit products out on the Spanish market through our new partner,” says Anders Søe-Jensen, CEO of Bladena.
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With more than 20,000 wind turbines installed in over 1,000 farms Spain has become one of the world leaders in the wind industry. With the large amount of wind turbines in operation, Spain is a market with a large potential both for Bladena and IMFutuRe: supporting wind turbine owners and operators in keeping the blades structurally fit and in operation during the lifetime of the turbines.
Bladena has for the last 7 years focused on developing quality retrofit products that prevent and minimize blade failures with the simple aim to increase the lifetime and durability of blades. This work will now be taken to the next level in Spain together with IMFutuRe.

Each year wind turbine owners, as part of the WTO Blade Group Network, meet to discuss blade related issues. This year’s seminar focuses on inspection methods; what is done today and what should be done in the future, adding the aspect of Owners Requirements to future blades. To explore today’s methods, inspection experts from around the world present advanced technologies with new improved data and results.
 
ENGIE’s Wind Technology Manager, Nicolas Quiévy, says: “New steps have to be made today to better assess the blade condition. Improvements and changes in blade inspection methodologies not only aim to minimize downtime and risk of failure because of severe damages that were not anticipated, but will also increase knowledge about (future) blade design, and maintenance strategies to be adopted.”
 
Today (June 4th) the participants arrived at Bladena in Roskilde to discuss why and how blades fail and how these failures can be avoided by adding new Owners Requirements’ criteria to existing blade certification standards. The Owners Requirements and Inspection methods go hand in hand as both topics through different approaches attempt to improve the performance and lifetime of blades, which is the wind turbine owners’ main concern.
 
Continuing at FORCE Technology June 5th Aracnocoptero, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Hensoldt, Siemens, Das Nano NOTUS, IMFUTURE and FORCE Technology will present new technologies and knowledge on blade inspection discussing the different types of blade failures occurring and the need for a systemized and standardized inspection data roadmap.
 
Project Manager and CTO of Bladena, Find Mølholt Jensen, says: “As Project Manager for both projects, Bladena is devoted to increase the awareness about structural related blade issues. Through the RATZ and EWIC projects Bladena sees a positive growth in the interest from wind turbine owners, insurance companies, inspection and blade experts who are eager to come together to exchange experience on how to reduce maintenance cost and more so the lifetime of blades”. 
 
This year, a third day has been added to the seminar with the focus on failure in composite materials (on wind turbine blades). The wind turbine owners will have the opportunity to witness physical test results of blade failures that are not detected by today’s inspection methods. Day 3 (June 6th) will take place at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in Lyngby.  
 
The WTO seminar is partly funded through the EWIC Project (End of Warranty Inspection Concepts) facilitated by Offshoreenergy.dk through the European Regional Development Fund under the heading CRIF -  Cost Reduction and Innovative Forum and partly under the RATZ Project funded by the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP), which is administered by the Danish Energy Agency.

Bladena is experiencing a growing interest and demand for its structural enhancements reinforcing existing wind turbine blades. To keep up with the positive development the board has decided to strengthen the sales team and hired Christian Nordal as of April 15th. Christian Nordal will focus on the North American aftermarket and select global customers using his extensive knowledge in business development and many years of experience within the wind industry.
Ryan Lauridsen, CSO, will in the future focus on the many opportunities on the European aftermarket which is continuing its positive response to the gains and benefits of Bladena’s structural retrofit solutions.
Leading all the efforts is CEO Anders Søe-Jensen who will focus strongly on the OEM market. CTO Find Mølholt Jensen and his technical team will continue supporting the commercial activities.

The Offshore Demonstration Blade (ODB) Project develops seven new technologies to reduce the production cost of wind energy in turbines installed offshore. It is financed with four million euros from funds from the EU's Horizon 2020 Program. Researchers from ten universities and companies from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Holland and Spain participate in the ODB Project, which held its General Assembly 2018 in Valencia. 

Partners for the EUDP: Bladena, DIS Engineering, Total Wind, DTU Mechanical Engineering, Collaboration Partners in the EU-Demo project from UK, Holland and Spain: Catapult, TNO, Aerox, Gamesa 

Vattenfall, E.ON, HOFOR together with The Blade Group Network – consisting of more than 30 wind turbine owners – have strongly encouraged that new concepts for the inspection of turbine blades at the end of warranty need to be developed. Their wish is to profoundly incorporate results of the latest research activities and extensive field experience in this work.

The wind turbine owners have teamed up with OffshoreEnergy.dk, Bladena, Total Wind BLAEST, Kirt-Thomsen and FORCE Technology to achieve this objective – optimize the quality of the blade inspection method and develop a common understanding/standard for how this work should be done in the future.

Anders Søe-Jensen, CEO at Bladena and former CEO of GE Offshore and Vestas Offshore, says:
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“As a standard, blades have for many years been inspected from the outside without any internal inspections. We know today, that even if the blade surface looks intact there may be serious issues to be found on the inside of the blades and even inside the panel structures. Therefore, the implementation of new inspection methods is to extend the lifetime by reducing maintenance costs and minimizing the future down-time.”
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Hence, the EWIC project partners have agreed to thoroughly investigate options for inspections of the blades from the inside and inside the material.
The project will define the details of how inside visual inspections should be carried out. The deployment of small size cameras and NDT in critical areas will be explored.
Visual inspection and NDT techniques will be combined with knowledge about theoretical failure modes, failure modes found in the laboratory tests and with data from blades damaged in the field. This will allow the definition of an optimal strategy for the use of NDT methods such as thermography and ultrasound in selected areas.