Ørsted has initiated a blade repair campaign at their Irish Sea wind farms, Burbo Bank Extension and Walney Extension, this year. As of the end of Q3-2023, 32 turbines have undergone blade repairs, and the campaign is still ongoing using the jack-up vessel MPI Adventure.

● Both wind farms feature the Vestas V164-8 turbine
● Burbo Bank Extension was commissioned on 01/04/2017, while Walney Extension was commissioned on 01/09/2018
● This marks the first blade repair campaign for the current generation of +6 MW wind turbines

Between 2018 and 2021, the wind energy industry witnessed several large-scale blade repair campaigns, comprising a total of 629 jack-up interventions. These campaigns were conducted on turbines such as the SGRE SWT-3.6-120 and Vestas V112-3.0 and V90-3.0. Typically, these campaigns occurred in years 5-8 of operation.

● Wind farms equipped with V164 turbines, including Borkum Riffgrund 2, Norther, Horns Rev 3, and Deutsche Buch, are entering this stage of their life cycle.
● At Sea Impact we will closely monitor developments to see if more blade repair campaigns follow.

It’s essential to note that specific site conditions can significantly affect the extent of leading-edge erosion, making blade repair campaigns more or less likely. Moreover, turbine OEMs have been working to enhance leading-edge erosion protection. The precise details of these efforts are still unknown to Sea Impact.

Note: Only Walney 03 (WOW03) featuring the Vestas V164 turbines is part of the campaign. Walney 04 (WOW04) is currently not affected.