Today’s wind farms, especially when located offshore, are a big investment for involved stake holders. Thus all important measures for ensuring quality should be carried out in order to protect these investments. Improper manufacturing of components can be a root cause of later costs for repairs during operation phase. These costs will be very high due to great effort for disassembly, special equipment (cranes, ships), specialized personnel and the non-productive time of the turbine. Thus it is recommended to minimize this risk in a very early project stage while all components are accessible, easy to survey and if necessary to repair. Minimization of this risk can be achieved with the surveillance of manufacturing by a neutral third party that can access all relevant design documents and is experienced in the assessment and inspection of wind turbines and their components.

 

This paper lays down the prerequisites of the manufacturing surveillance according to guideline GL 2005 and GL 2012 and clarifies a number of questions.