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SGS IS INVOLVED IN THE WINDEXT PROJECT- ADVANCED MAINTENANCE, LIFETIME EXTENSION AND REPOWERING OF WIND FARMS SUPPORTED BY ADVANCED DIGITAL TOOLS

June 29, 2021

A consortium of European key players in the Wind Industry come together, to create the reference training course WindEXT in the framework of this project co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme.

Launched in January 2020, WindEXT is an ambitious European funded project with a duration of 36 months and a budget of almost €1 million. The goal of the project is to develop specialized training that will allow reducing the LCOE ( levelized cost of energy) by reducing the OPEX (Operating Expenses), increase the quality of O&M (Operations and Maintenance) services while extending the lifetime of the assets and the working conditions of the maintenance personnel.

The final objective is to create a training programme (WindEXT) integrating different simulators and digital tools. The intention of the Consortium is to standardise the training contents in the wind farm maintenance sector, introducing new approaches and digital tools to facilitate professional training before starting work on wind farms. Part of the tools developed in the project can be used later in professional life, especially the assessment of failure causes, digitalisation and the use of simulators.

More specifically, the project aims are the following:

  • A better comprehension of the use of simulators and digital approaches for maintenance and the life extension as well their validation in real conditions
  • To select the best procedures to dismantle a wind farm regarding the final use of the WTGs and the components.
  • To learn about the most appropriate methods for the recycling or/and the reuse of the machinery, blades and main components
  • Diagnosis procedures to evaluate the situation of the different components.
  • Get to know about the methods to evaluate the factors affecting to the loss of availability of the wind farms and the subsequent loss of incomes.
  • Design and develop e-learning platforms that will host educational resources.
  • Consolidation of independent service providers

This project will foster participants' capabilities to introduce new maintenance, operation and monitoring schemes for assets through the use of advanced digital and simulation tools.

The general structure of the training material has been developed in WP4 (General description and critical components) together with the proposed learning outcomes and training materials. Discussions have been held with partners on how some of the material could be taught through the use of software tools (e.g. FAST/Matlab) and the use of 3D visualisation. The wind turbine has been broken down into sub-assemblies and a more detailed process diagram has been developed and will be used to link to the training material. Discussions are ongoing with partners on how to link the material to the fault tree and condition monitoring.

The partners meet monthly virtually and organise themselves into different working groups to assess the progress of the project

  • Digitisation and training structure: TESCINOR, 8.2, DP2I, UCY and UDELFT.
  • Contents: UDELFT, UCLM, DP2I, INESTEC,
  • Pilot testing: AEE, INESTEC, BZEE
  • Quality control, monitoring and dissemination. AEE, SGS and BZEE

SGS TECNOS is part of the Consortium due to its large experience in professional training in the energy sector. SGS will also lead the WP10 related to quality assurance & evaluation. As experts in certification and evaluation, they count with several tools to evaluate the performance of projects. SGS will lead this WP with the close collaboration of all the project partners and especially of the members of the Management Committee. This methodology has been successfully implemented in other ERASMUS+ Projects and has been previously validated by the partners

Learn more about this project in our Project Website.

ABOUT SGS

SGS is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 94,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,600 offices and laboratories around the world.

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