The challenges of turbine maintenance

The size of wind farms and turbines have been increasing as technologies in this area improve. This is great news for increased renewable energy capabilities, however, has also created some difficulties for wind turbine maintenance. Some of the key challenges is that turbine inspections can cost a lot of money, take a lot of time and be risky for the people inspecting turbines. Using drones for turbine inspections is one solution to this problem.

Where does drone technology help?

There are quite a few benefits regarding the use of drones for turbine inspection, but some of the biggest benefits include improved safety, operations and efficiency, and collection of better data.

Improved Safety

Drones can fly (unlike humans) and this means that using drones to inspect the turbines keeps engineers on the ground, reducing the catastrophic risk of falls during wind turbine inspection.

Better Data

Drones capture high-resolution imagery which delivers detailed data on the turbine’s condition, and when using technologies such as LiDAR, can show measurements of defects. The data captured by drones makes problem solving easier for turbine technicians and engineers.

Improved Wind Farm Operations

Because drones can capture high-quality data, they can improve the quality of a wind turbine inspection and enable proactive rather than reactive wind farm maintenance. Drones can help turbine technicians and engineers identify potential and current issues in a timely manner which can result in quicker response times. This could mean less downtime for turbines which will mean better energy production.

How do drones work for turbine maintenance?

Drones can be managed in different ways, including:

• Manual flight – the drones are flown by a pilot who is on the ground. This require a highly skilled operator who will capture images of the turbines that can later be analysed.
• Automated flight – the drones use LiDAR technology sensors to fly along a path to inspect the blades.

Drones in action

ACCIONA has partnered with Deakin University in a project to research and develop drone technology and software for turbine inspections. If you want to read more about this project, you can here.