Wind energy infrastructure, be it onshore or offshore, relies heavily on the use of steel for most of its key components, whether it be turbines, towers, foundations or transformer stations… the list goes on. As a result there is a significant amount of work required to transform ‘bare’ steel into something able to produce the power that can deliver much needed sources of new energy. This work is nothing new given that steel has been the cornerstone of construction for decades and in particular in offshore construction.
However, within the fabrication process many connections are needed in order to transform the steel into wind energy power plants. Naturally, the size and type of the connections vary significantly from large pieces of secondary steel, such as boat access landing points and navigation lights for illumination, to the variety of connections required within a tower or nacelle. This presents one of the main challenges within the fabrication process.
As anyone who works in this particular field knows, in an ideal world the welded connections are to be done prior to the structure heads being transferred to the paint shop for coating, making them ready for ‘life in service’. Naturally with larger connections these are relatively straightforward as they are by definition ‘large’ and the locations are well defined.
When it comes to many small connections there can be lots of potential difficulties due to them having been incorrectly placed for a variety of reasons. This can lead to potentially drastic consequences on the production schedule and subsequent cost escalation due to the need to rework the technically sophisticated coating systems required in the wind industry. In an industry where there is a critical need to drive down costs, possible questions might be- Is there an opportunity to look at alternative methods for fixing to steel? Is it possible to challenge the status quo whether at the wind turbine manufacturing plant, transformer station or foundation fabricator’s yard?
