ACCELERATING THE UK'S ONSHORE WIND SECTOR
The UK’s onshore wind fleet is a cornerstone of its renewable energy future, but as assets age, the industry faces new challenges in life extension, repowering, and optimising performance.
We provide world-class test and demonstration facilities, as well as expert engineering and research services, to support the entire lifecycle of onshore wind projects. Our capabilities, originally developed for the offshore sector, are directly transferable to onshore applications, helping to reduce risk, increase reliability, and drive down the cost of energy.
Photo credit above and below right: RWE
ONSHORE TURBINE BLADES
The UK's onshore wind fleet is home to a wide range of turbine sizes, with many older models featuring blades around 40-50 meters in length. As the industry moves towards repowering with larger, more powerful machines, the need for robust blade technology is critical.
Our facilities offer comprehensive blade testing services to validate the structural integrity and performance of both legacy and novel designs. By subjecting blades to accelerated lifetime testing, we can simulate years of operational stress in a matter of months, ensuring that components can withstand the demands of their intended lifespan.
This is particularly valuable for life extension projects on existing turbines and for de-risking the introduction of new, longer blades on repowered sites.
OUR TURBINE BLADE SERVICES INCLUDE:
Structural integrity, fatigue testing and identifying predictive maintenance opportunities
Blade life extension including material and component analysis
Full-scale static and dynamic testing for novel designs
Blade leading-edge erosion research into solutions to improve efficiency
ONSHORE DRIVETRAINS
The drivetrain is the heart of a wind turbine, and its reliability is paramount to maximising uptime and energy generation. Our drivetrain test facilities provide a controlled environment to put full-scale nacelles and powertrains through their paces or test new sub-assembly or component performance prior to integration with existing systems.
We perform highly accelerated lifetime testing, a proven methodology that replicates the complex, multi-axis loads experienced in the field. This allows us to identify potential failure modes in gearboxes, generators, and other critical components before they are deployed, significantly reducing the risk of costly in-service failures. This is a vital service for manufacturers looking to validate new drivetrain designs for the next generation of onshore turbines.
OUR DRIVETRAIN SERVICES INCLUDE:
Full-scale nacelle and drivetrain testing (Sub-1MW to 15MW capacity)
Multi-axis load application
Grid emulation to test electrical system performance
Condition monitoring and fault diagnostics
NETWORK COMPLIANCE & HIGH-VOLTAGE CABLES
The electrical infrastructure of a wind farm, including high-voltage (HV) cables and components, is a major source of reliability and financial risk. With an estimated 75-80% of all offshore wind insurance claims attributed to cable failures, validating cable integrity is crucial for onshore projects as well.
Our HV electrical laboratories provide a secure, accredited environment for testing cables and components. We conduct rigorous tests, including accelerated ageing and partial discharge diagnostics, to assess the long-term performance and resilience of electrical systems. This helps to ensure grid compliance and provides asset owners with the confidence that their electrical infrastructure will perform reliably throughout its service life.
OUR ELECTRICAL NETWORK SERVICES INCLUDE:
High-voltage cable and component testing
Accelerated ageing and degradation analysis
Grid emulation to test electrical system performance
Supporting development and validation of new cable technologies
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