Birdwatcher Changes Turbine Inspection Methods

Operations & Maintenance manager at Nuon Teus van Verseveld is an active birdwatcher who usually keeps his telescope in the back of the car.

“I found out that I could use an adapter and attach a camera to the telescope enabling me to take pictures of the rotor blades. I started doing my inspections this summer and it works perfectly. It is faster, I can inspect six to seven turbines a day while the conventional way of doing it can manage maybe two turbines a day.”

Since the summer, van Verseveld has inspected 60 onshore turbines in the Netherlands. His findings include a rotor blade damaged by lightning at the Jaap Rodenburg wind farm and a blade showing a substantial crack at wind farm Eemmeerdijk.

Stability is an important factor for van Verseveld’s inspections. He uses a tripod for the Swarovski telescope.

“Onshore there is no problem with this method but offshore would be more of a challenge.”

Teus van Verseveld recently shared his experiences from inspecting rotor blades with a telescope, with colleagues from the Continental/UK organisation.

“This method enables us to do more frequent inspections and to identify damage at an early stage. Mechanics are then immediately notified. The shorter period of time a turbine has to be taken out of operation, the more money it saves the company.” 

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Press release; Image: Vattenfall