Vestas has turned to drones to deliver a blade inspection campaign on over 1250 of its wind turbines in Sweden and Finland.
The turbine supplier has enlisted Sulzer Schmid, a Swiss developer of unmanned aerial vehicle technology for rotor blade inspections, and WKA, a blade inspection and repair service provider, to help it complete the inspections before the end of June.
The blades have to be inspected by then, so that repair work, which traditionally takes place during the less windy summer months, can start on time.
Vestas has opted for a drone-based solution, in order to carry out the inspections, to high quality standards, within the tight timeframe.
WKA and Sulzer Schmid will cooperate to offer the complete service needed by Vestas. WKA has trained eight teams for drone inspections.
Within the partnership, Sulzer Schmid’s cutting-edge drone-based inspection technology will be combined to WKA’s qualified field personnel and rotor blade expertise to offer a turnkey solution.
WKA will deploy drones equipped with cameras and sensors to capture and record blade defects and ensure smooth operations in the field. The project management will be supported by TEC, an industrial services specialist in Germany.
Sulzer Schmid and WKA’s offering covers the entire workflow up until the defects are made available on Vestas’ customer portal.
In addition to diligent planning and efficient field operation, this requires a streamlined defect annotation process and the integration into the backend systems of Vestas to allow for an end-to-end information flow.
The high definition images captured by the drones are analysed aided by artificial intelligence, and detailed automated reports are generated via Sulzer Schmid’s 3DX software.
Vestas senior service director for Sweden and Finland Jons Sjostedt said: “We are convinced that drone-based inspection will become the new standard in the wind industry.
“In combination with an efficient field operation and a streamlined digital information flow, this innovative solution will add a lot of value to our customers.
“We are looking forward to seeing the results of WKA and Sulzer Schmid’s collaboration on this inspection campaign.”