GROW-to-GO

How to prevent damage to rotor blades

Rotor blades are made of strong materials that look indestructible, yet they get damaged by water and that costs a lot of money. Harald van der Mijle Meijer (TNO), and Julie Teuwen (TU Delft), put on their rainboots to research how rain impacts the wind turbines’ rotor blades. The goal? To get more insight into how the damage of blades evolves and even better: how to prevent it.

How to combine the best features of all materials and put it together in large structures.

Offshore wind support structures make a significant part in the total cost of an offshore wind turbine. They continuously need to cope with a wide range of forces from wind, waves and currents, over the full lifespan of the project. Marko Pavlović, assistant professor at TU Delft, and Maxim Segeren, managing director at Tree Composites, introduce an innovation that might reduce the production cost of such foundations by 25 to 50%. Even without a direct quotation of their inventors, these numbers already show that their wrapped composite joints can change the world of offshore wind for the better.

Listen to their stories.

Steel does not “react that optimal” to these offshore conditions that cause degradation.

The corrosion of monopiles, a threat to the future of offshore wind? Senior scientist Richard Pijpers and project manager Joke Luyten, both working at TNO, want to improve the design and optimise maintenance of monopiles. How? To get a better understanding of the degradation – caused by corrosion and fatigue – of the offshore wind structures. Listen to their stories.

Offshore wind installations might be a wonderful solution to a serious problem for humans, the underwater sea life is now negatively impacted instead. Linda Kemp, project manager at MARIN shows how bubbles can prevent wind turbine installation noise that harms sea life. This is, she stresses, a “really nice topic to work on”, and it’s especially “fascinating to do new things, with an aim to protect the sea life and to improve the sustainability of the ocean.”

For more information go to: https://www.grow-to-go.nl

Offshore wind energy has gone through tremendous developments in recent years. Innovation was a key driver for its success. If offshore wind wants to make a lasting contribution to the energy transition, the sector must continue to innovate. David de Jager of GROW - a consortium with a joint research program in offshore wind - gives you in this podcast series an impression of the key research and innovations that will shape the future of offshore wind.