26 WIND TURBINES
Breathing new life into a wind turbine In 2021, electro mechanical engineering specialist Houghton International carried out the repair and rewind of an 850kW direct-drive wind turbine generator. Renew found out more about the project.
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he Enercon E48 wind turbine was erected and commissioned in 2019 on a farm in the village of Llanwnnen in Ceredigion, Wales, by Grannell Community Energy, a locally-funded Community Benefit Society. It was purchased from a wind farm in the Netherlands, where it had previously been in operation. In late 2020 the turbine failed in service due to an earth fault, and Grannell Community Energy approached Houghton International to carry out repair work. Based in North England, Houghton International accommodated the 26-tonne generator in its large machine repair shop, which is specifically designed for large-scale projects. Lindsay Thomas, Director at Grannell Community Energy,
Quarter 2 2022
commented: “As a community energy group, we have invested significant time, effort and funds into our wind turbine project, so when it came to repairs, it was particularly important to us to find a repairer that could offer the highest quality of service. “From our first contact with Houghton International, we were impressed by their professionalism, enthusiasm and support for the project. Not only did they have the facilities to accommodate a project of this size, but they also gave us full confidence in their experience and
technical expertise.” Considering the age and condition of the asset, and previous works carried out on the turbine, Houghton International’s project team recommended a full rewind of both the rotor and stator to minimise the risk of further faults and extend the operational lifespan of the turbine. Houghton International has developed a range of processes and intellectual property inhouse, several examples of which were used during this project, as Chris Measor, Winding Assistant
"To rewind the DC pole shoes from the rotor, we used a system we had first developed for use on high speed trains."
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