After the design lifetime of a wind turbine has been reached, it becomes necessary to determine the often considerable structural reserves of its components to enable a lifetime extension. This is done as part of the evaluation and assessment process for the continued operation of wind turbines – the lifetime extension report, as it is called in Germany.

We conduct the so-called “analytical part” of the lifetime extension report, which includes determining site wind conditions, load calculations, and the calculation of the potential remaining useful life.

We tailor our approach to the specific requirements of each project. If repowering is planned, it is often only necessary to bridge a short period before an old turbine is decommissioned. For these cases, we offer cost-effective solutions. Sometimes, however, turbines are intended to be operated for as long as possible. For such scenarios, we have a wide range of methods at our disposal, helping us find the right assessment approaches based on the site and turbine type to avoid wasting any remaining lifetime. This is especially critical at challenging sites, where turbines may have produced limited yields but have experienced high loads.

When needed, we also take a hands-on approach with the turbines themselves: together with our partners, we equip turbines with load monitoring systems either before or during continued operation. This allows us to measure actual loads directly. With this data, we can reduce conservative assumptions in our calculation models, achieving significantly better computational results compared to traditional methods!