Renewable energy sources are an increasingly common sight in the UK and worldwide. The benefits of these energy generators are numerous as they are helping shift our economies away from their environmentally damaging past and into a bright new future of affordable, safe, clean, green energy.
Renewable energy, like any other power generation, relies on predictable machinery that must be relied upon to function adequately. Unexpected downtime is a serious problem for any energy generation facility and is prevented by the appropriate application of preventative in-situ maintenance.
In-situ maintenance is vital to effective machine repairs at industrial facilities such as renewable energy. Otherwise known as onsite maintenance, in-situ eliminates many disruptive elements within a maintenance program by enacting the work onsite.
Traditional machine maintenance is highly disruptive as the parts need to be sent away to be repaired. This creates significantly increased delays before production can begin, as the facility manager must wait for the part to be returned. Additionally, the logistics of transporting the necessary parts will be challenging to ensure its safe delivery.
At In-Situ, we embrace the superior choice of onsite machining; our expert engineers will bring their portable repair equipment to the damaged machine and conduct the required machining there. For example, we have mobile line boring machines that are customisable to perform effective engine line boring anywhere in the world. The variety of tools and skilled engineers available provide our mobile team with the capabilities to address a broad range of problems, including green energy repairs.
The UK is progressing through a dramatic change affecting all levels of the economy, from small businesses to industrial complexes. This huge shift has been named the UK Net Zero 2050 plan and is aimed at creating a national economy that will be effectively carbon neutral.
The next stage in this government initiative is coming up in 2030; it has many factors and targets that should be met to create a smooth transition to the final 2050 goal. One of many goals is to reduce carbon emissions considerably by increasing the number and effectiveness of renewable energy sources.
Most people are aware of the single wind turbines and roof-mounted solar panels that many companies are installing to reduce their energy costs. Still, not many people know just how widespread green energy is in the UK.
Due to the Net Zero plan, increasingly large investments have been made in renewable energy, with carbon offset schemes bringing much-needed funding. Extensive wind, wave and solar farms exist to supply immense amounts of green energy; it’s estimated that 11.6GW (gigawatts), or a hundred billion lightbulbs of electricity, is being generated this way. One thing that unites all these various energy generation sites is their need for regular maintenance and repairs.
Wind farms are highly productive members of this green energy family, generating a sixth of the UK’s energy alone. However, onshore and offshore farms involve complex machinery and electronics exposed to harsh weather conditions daily. As a result, their internal and external components can become damaged over time, wearing down or becoming faulty and need to be repaired before being used to generate electricity again.
Mechanical components will suffer from wear over time, with some parts creating friction as they operate, which will lead to long-term damage. A common cause that leads to costly shutdowns of wind turbines is the brake or gearbox. These two areas are designed to manage the speed of the turbine and maintain a productive but safe pace. If either of these two fails, then the turbine will operate at an erratic speed that will damage it further and be a risk to other turbines and anyone on the ground. This is why choosing a team that can conduct effective wind turbine repair is vital to maintaining a safe and productive wind farm.
At In-Situ Machining Solutions, we have a great deal of experience working with domestic and international energy facilities and assisting them in getting their operations back to 100%. In addition, we provide effective machining services, such as our line boring services, both internationally and domestically, for planned maintenance and emergency repairs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
We work closely with operators for renewables to provide much-needed engineering assistance in the most efficient manner possible. Our engineers have worked with the following:
Thanks to our innovative machining tools, we are well-placed to support all stages of a renewable energy generator’s lifecycle, from fabrication and installation to maintenance and decommissioning.
Learn more about the various machine maintenance services we provide through our case studies. Additionally, contact us directly to ask us about any of the repair services we provide, and our expert team will be happy to help.
