E.ON has chosen SGS, a Hamburg-based inspection, verification, testing and certification company, to carry out periodic service inspections at the 302MW Amrumbank West offshore wind farm located some 35 kilometers north of the Heligoland in the North Sea.
Under the contract, SGS will perform periodic inspections of the wind farm’s 80 wind turbines, as required by law. The company’s scope of works includes checking of maintenance logs and evaluating potential repair works at the site.
The SGS inspectors will also check for the state of corrosion protection, the seals of the drive trains, and look for cracks or material defects. Finally, SGS will also issue test reports and certificates on the current status of the wind farm.
“The service inspections are an indispensable element for ensuring the quality and safety of wind energy projects,” said SGS Head, Christian Nübold, said.
“The inspections by independent experts of SGS provide the technical equipment reliability and minimize unexpected downtime.”
E.ON put into operation the upgraded Amrumbank West offshore wind farm in February 2016. In December 2015, E.ON and Siemens implemented a software solution that allows Amrumbank West to harvest more energy in times of strong wind, the company told Offshore WIND. The software increased the wind farm’s capacity by 14MW.