​Last week, the entire value chain of the wind industry was gathered in Denmark at the CORTIR Midterm Meeting. Here the certification body DNV GL was invited to present their take on the limitations of the current certification standards. This led to a fruitful dialog between the WTOs (Wind Turbine Owners) and DNV GL. What was planned to be a 45 minutes presentation ended up taking almost 3 hours.

On the 15th and 16th of January, the entire value chain was gathered at Bladena’s offices in Roskilde, Denmark to participate in the CORTIR Midterm Meeting. In total, 15 different WTO-companies were present. Some attended as CORTIR project partners, others from the Blade Group Network which now has grown to consist of 47 WTO companies. Amongst those were owners like EDF, E.ON, Ørsted, ENEL, Equinor and more.
On the first day, the certification body DNV GL was invited to speak about their take on the limitations of the current certification standards in the industry. Through the presentation, Dr. Christopher Harrison from DNV GL received a lot of questions questioning the integrity of the current standards. His response was positive and accommodating to the input received from all participants. ​“DNV GL appreciates collaboration from all stakeholders in the industry and plans to continue the relationships formed at the CORTIR seminar as our standards and guidelines evolve in the future,” says Christopher.

After the presentation Nicolas Quievy, Technology Manager from Engie chaired the further discussion. “I was happy to chair a quite intense and fruitful session during the CORTIR Midterm Meeting. There is a common understanding that the industry can do better in reducing the lifecycle costs associated to blades by improving inspection strategies, utilizing full potential of certification standards, carrying out research projects to better assess failure modes seen in operation, etc,” says Nicolas. The discussion led to a constructive dialog on what the limitations are, how to move forward and how the WTOs can help the most. What was planned to be a 45 minutes presentation ended up taking nearly 3 hours of presentation and discussion. 

The recently improved DNV GL standards can be either required or recommended, depending on the subject. Therefore, a number of additional requirements have been developed by Bladena together with a group of WTOs and insurance companies.

Not only were the utility companies present. Also, the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) LM Wind Power and Nordex, ISPs (Independent Service Providers), the insurance company Codan, EUDP (Energy Technology and Demonstration Program) and other parties attended the meeting. This ensured a nuanced discussion influenced by the opinions of all parts of the value chain and is a good example of the progress and maturing that is happening in the wind industry. Beforehand the OEMs, WTOs, insurance companies, etc. operated separately where they now communicate more.
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From the start, the CORTIR project has been designed to unify and be accepted by the entire value chain in the wind industry. The outcome of the project is a Cost and Reliability Tool (CAR Tool) which is created to minimize the risk and cost associated with blade O&M.  The need for this tool is highly relevant as it supports the end-user in planning a cost-optimal maintenance strategy. For this tool to work properly, the value chain needs to cooperate instead of working separately as the data used to develop the tool have to be as reliable as possible.

After 20 years in the industry Find Mølholt Jensen, CTO, and founder of Bladena recognizes the changing behavior in the field: “It is good to see that the industry is maturing, and I am proud to have the entire value chain come together to bring down LCoE.” Find continues: “Projects like CORTIR have not only helped us develop highly useful technologies but also changed the way we collaborate within the industry. Our industry was built to make the world more sustainable and it is our responsibility to bring down repair and maintenance cost and increase the lifetime of blades to make the industry become even more sustainable than what it already is.”

The CORTIR project is now halfway through its duration. During the two days, Bladena also presented the latest advances within the project for the many attendees. This gave the opportunity for the many partners to give their feedback on what they would like to be implemented and what could be improved.

At the end of the seminar, the participants had the opportunity to join a workshop regarding a tip solution or join a wind tunnel test at DTU Wind.

The CORTIR project is supported by the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP), which is administered by the Danish Energy Agency.

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

​Despite a 50% increase in content, the handbook keeps the same reader-friendly communication format for all curious. Text-heavy technical knowledge is converted into easy to grasp visual language. It is key for communicating the complexity of blade design and function. The goal of the handbook is to be more efficient in communication by creating a shared lingo for the future of the wind industry within blades.

​For many years the industry has been using many different terms that describe the same topic. Therefore, the Blade handbook is designed to get a common language in the wind industry, to improve the common understanding of everyday blade related issues, and moreover to help newcomers to the industry get an overview. This is achieved by professional, reader-friendly communication design by KIRT x THOMSEN who is specialized in supporting early stage innovation of complex technologies, being experts in making clear, understandable conceptualization and visualization.

To ensure the updates are as accurate as possible Bladena and KIRT x THOMSEN have been getting numerous inputs from CORTIR partners from the whole wind industry. Especially, Aalborg ​University, Force Technology, DIS, Global Wind Service, Guide2Defect, DTU Mechanical Engineering, and DTU Wind Energy have contributed with many important inputs to the handbook.

The new CORTIR edition of the Blade Handbook was presented at the latest CORTIR seminar for partners from the whole value chain. Here all the partners had the opportunity to be the first to get the new updated version after a brief history about the development of the Blade Handbook throughout the years. Here the Blade Handbook has been supported by the Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP). The electronic version can be downloaded here. For hardcopy, please contact Bladena.

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

According to new research by analysts at Wood Mackenzie (WoodMac), onshore wind farm operators will spend nearly $15 billion on operations and maintenance services in 2019. Of this, 57% ($8.5 billion) will be spent on unplanned repairs and correctives prompted by component failures.
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Today Bladena successfully hosted yet another seminar within the CORTIR program. Here, one of the principal analysts at WoodMac, Daniel Liu, joined the seminar as a keynote speaker. This resulted in an extremely insightful presentation about the recent research done by WoodMac. The analysts behind the research argue that advanced digital technology such as data analytics and machine learning will enable sophisticated asset management and can help operators optimize maintenance costs. Furthermore, Liu added that there are several reasons why such advanced digital technologies have not been implemented yet, i.e. the obstacle of collecting enough data.“In quite a few cases, the basic economics do not always stack up for digital solutions,” Lui said.

The goal is to investigate the importance of the different uncertainty factors (e.g. probability of detection, weather window, probability of crack propagation) and input parameters  as well as finding the right balance between accuracy and viable usability for the end-user. 

​​A reason why advanced digital technologies are yet to be used in the field are according to Liu that data analytics platforms need excellent historical datasets to produce quality forecasts and analytics. This can be difficult to obtain, due to organizational hurdles, the time required to digitize, and data management by OEMs and other groups. However, in the CORTIR project, one of the core partners is Guide2Defect, which have collected an extensive amount of data on different blade and failure types for many years. Therefore, it will contribute with the data which the CAR Tool will be based upon.
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The presentation by Daniel Liu included the possibility for the CORTIR partners to get an answer to their many questions. This lead to a great number of interesting questions and was a foundation for a fruitful discussion for the rest of the day.

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

​The whole value chain of the wind industry was gathered at the seminar.

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.