Wind Turbine Blade Specialist Bladena Allies With Sensoria™ to Enhance Offshore Blade Integrity

Rhea-AI Summary

Sensoria by MISTRAS Group has announced a collaboration with Bladena to enhance offshore wind blade integrity and uptime. This partnership aims to tackle the increased failure rates of larger offshore blades with innovative monitoring technology and retrofit solutions. By minimizing manual inspections and extending blade operational lifetimes, the collaboration seeks to reduce wind energy costs and enhance turbine efficiency. This approach is expected to lower operational expenditures and improve annual energy production for wind energy operators.

Positive

• Collaboration with Bladena to enhance offshore wind blade integrity.
• Utilization of advanced acoustic emission technology for real-time damage detection.
• Reduction in the need for manual inspections, lowering operational costs.
• Potential increase in annual energy production for wind energy operators.

Negative

• Larger offshore blades face higher failure rates, indicating inherent risks.
• Offshore blades are challenging to access and inspect, which could lead to undetected damages.

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Sept. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sensoria™ by MISTRAS Group, an innovative 24/7/365 wind blade monitor, is pleased to announce a collaboration with Danish blade specialist Bladena to provide an innovative solution to help maximize offshore wind blade integrity and uptime.

As larger offshore blades are more likely to fail than smaller onshore blades, the collaboration combines Sensoria’s cutting-edge blade monitoring technology with Bladena’s extensive experience managing offshore blade risk throughout its lifecycle approach. Together, the two will provide a robust blade integrity solution: MISTRAS Group’s proven acoustic emission (AE) monitoring technology—used for decades on some of the world’s most iconic structures and bridges to detect damages by “listening” for changes in background noise patterns—along with Bladena’s patented blade retrofit solutions and unique structural blade understanding.

The collaboration focuses on providing the offshore wind market with solutions for the critical structural challenges wind turbine blades face in harsh environmental conditions. Offshore blades can be difficult to access and inspect due to their remote locations, potentially leading to damage forming and worsening between scheduled inspections. In addition, trends show a significant increase in severe structural damages, especially on new, large offshore blades.

By reducing the need for traditional, manual spot inspections and extending the operational lifetime of offshore wind blades by detecting and addressing the root cause of the damages, the Sensoria™-Bladena collaborative relationship is focused on decreasing wind energy costs related to manual labor, unexpected structural damages, and unnecessary, prolonged blade downtime. This combination will help enhance the generating capacity and annual energy production (AEP) of wind turbines for wind energy owners and operators and contribute to lower operating expenditures (OPEX).

Learn more about the Sensoria™ wind blade monitor at https://sensoriawind.com/. Learn more about Bladena at https://www.bladena.com/.

About Sensoria™ by MISTRAS Group
Sensoria™— a MISTRAS Group (NYSE: MG) brand — is a 24/7/365 remote rotor blade monitoring system. Using advanced acoustic emission (AE) technology, Sensoria™ continuously detects and reports blade damages to provide Edge-to-Edge Intelligence on wind blade integrity. Developed and manufactured in-house and backed by MISTRAS’ legacy of AE leadership, Sensoria™ delivers real-time damage detection, accessible integrity data through the Sensoria™ Insights Portal, and inspection and maintenance support services through Sensoria™ Dispatch. To learn more, visit https://sensoriawind.com/.

About Bladena

Bladena is a recognized blade expert on structural damages, specialized in providing advisory services and retrofit solutions on blades. Bladena’s business is based on advanced blade data achieved through many years of field experience and strong collaboration with industrial partners and top worldwide research institutions. They administrate the Wind Turbine Owners (WTO) Blade Network with more than 50 WTOs, as well as several development projects in collaboration with the entire value chain of the wind energy industry, using their expertise to help their customers lower operating expenditures (OPEX), risk of blade failure, and loss of annual energy production (AEP). To learn more, visit https://www.bladena.com/.

Contact:

Nestor S. Makarigakis
Group Vice President, Marketing and Communications
MISTRAS Group, Inc.
marcom@mistrasgroup.com
+1 (609) 716-4000

FAQ

What is the significance of the collaboration between MISTRAS Group and Bladena?

The collaboration aims to improve offshore wind blade integrity and reduce operational costs through innovative monitoring solutions.

How does Sensoria's technology enhance wind blade monitoring?

Sensoria utilizes advanced acoustic emission technology to continuously detect and report blade damages.

What are the expected benefits for wind energy operators from this partnership?

Wind energy operators may experience lower operational expenditures and increased annual energy production.

What challenges do larger offshore wind blades face?

Larger offshore blades are more prone to failures and are difficult to access for inspections, leading to potential damage.

How does the partnership address the issues of offshore wind blades?

The partnership combines cutting-edge monitoring technology with retrofit solutions to tackle structural challenges faced by offshore blades.