With apologies to Bob Dylan!
Wind turbine tower design and manufacturing is one of the lesser-known success stories of the global wind industry.
What looks like a simple tube is in fact a complex structure fabricated from steel plates of varying thickness, rolled into cans which in turn are welded together.
Adding to its pipeline of demonstration projects, UK-based SENSEWind plans to construct a 6 MW wind turbine in Scotland using its innovative SENSE installation system.
SENSEWind and Forsyths have agreed to terms on a manufacturing contract to produce an industry-first carriage system in support of the 2 MW demonstration project scheduled for installation in early 2025.
A wind installation company that employs robotics to “self-install” turbines plans to demonstrate its concept with a 2MW onshore machine and eventually use its technology for floating projects.
SENSEWind has selected SM Industries (formerly Valmont) to produce a first-of-its-kind, triple rail wind turbine tower for its flagship 2 MW onshore demonstration project – a single turbine plan partially funded by UK Government (BEIS) FOW grant scheme.
On the O&M side of things, based on evidence generated from a series of industry engagements, BVG Associates estimate* that a future 1 GW floating wind farm of 70 turbines would plan for at least seven major component exchanges per annum in early post-warranty years.