How Can Wind Farms Benefit from a Relationship with a Hydraulic Equipment Supplier?
Wind farms rely on hydraulic power to install turbines, engage braking and pitch systems, and repair wind tower components. When the facility’s hydraulic equipment experiences a failure, it can bring your operations to a halt.
If your organization has a professional relationship with a hydraulic equipment supplier, it will provide several benefits to the wind farm, including:
- Better equipment reliability and uptime (with on-time preventative maintenance)
- Better equipment efficiency (with proper system speccing and calibration)
- Better equipment safety (with expert equipment maintenance and repairs)
- Better facility output and efficiency (with prompt repairs)
By partnering with an experienced hydraulic equipment technician, your facilities will hit production benchmarks faster and with greater safety.
What are Some of the Ways Wind Farms Benefit from a Relationship with a Hydraulic Equipment Supplier?
Many wind farms are required to meet production quotas, as per their Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). It’s critical for wind farms to meet these quotas, as the resulting imbalance charges can be steep.
A hydraulic equipment supplier can help your facility avoid expenses like imbalance charges and maintenance calls through the following:
- Proper hydraulic system speccing and calibration – Hydraulic power units, hydraulic pumps, hydraulic cylinders and valve sets are available in an overwhelming number of configurations. Ideally, your facility will have someone in house who can calculate your flow and capacity needs, as they must be accounted for when selecting equipment. If your hydraulics aren’t properly specced, they will either fail to deliver sufficient power or may cause safety issues.
A hydraulic equipment supplier can help your facility spec any new hydraulic assets and ensure they’re all properly sized, relative to each other. The result is that your new hydraulic system will function as expected, out of the box.
- On-time preventative maintenance that improves equipment reliability and safety – Preventative maintenance is key to hydraulic system reliability. Many minor issues can be identified and resolved during a round of preventative maintenance, preventing downtime causing problems before they appear. And it’s not just efficiency that matters as equipment failures can put workers at risk.
A hydraulic equipment supplier can often provide expert preventative maintenance, which includes full equipment inspections and a variety of preventative services like fluid and leak checks. In general, preventative maintenance costs less and takes less time, compared to equipment repairs, so they’re a must for every wind farm.
- Expert equipment repairs that minimize downtime and optimize productivity – If your hydraulic equipment does experience a failure and has to be taken offline, it will cost your organization until it’s back in service. At this point, the only option is to schedule prompt repairs or replace the equipment.
A hydraulic equipment supplier can perform these repairs faster than a contracted technician, and because they’re familiar with your hydraulic equipment, they’ll achieve better results.
- Proper hydraulic system speccing and calibration – Hydraulic power units, hydraulic pumps, hydraulic cylinders and valve sets are available in an overwhelming number of configurations. Ideally, your facility will have someone in house who can calculate your flow and capacity needs, as they must be accounted for when selecting equipment. If your hydraulics aren’t properly specced, they will either fail to deliver sufficient power or may cause safety issues.
There’s no avoiding hydraulic equipment maintenance as it is essential for facility safety and efficiency. The question is, who will provide that maintenance? If your organization is partnered with a hydraulic equipment supplier, you’ll have priority access to maintenance and repairs.
If you’re not partnered with a hydraulic expert, you’ll have to contract a hydraulic technician to provide critical repairs, which will cost your company extra time and money. For many facilities, it makes sense to maintain an ongoing partnership with a proven hydraulic equipment supplier.
What Does Preventative Hydraulic Equipment Maintenance for Wind Farms Include?
Preventative maintenance is one of the most important value-adds that a hydraulic equipment supplier can provide to their clients. It’s essential for maintaining optimal equipment efficiency and reliability. Here’s what to expect from your hydraulic equipment technician:
- Verifying all hydraulic systems are still running properly – Before cracking open any of your hydraulic pumps or cylinders, your hydraulic supplier will first verify that every piece of equipment is properly calibrated. This includes checking valve and pump settings to ensure safe flow.
- Assessing hydraulic fluid quality – Hydraulic fluid contaminations are the leading cause of hydraulic pump and cylinder failures. On wind farms, where airborne dust is always present, contamination is a constant threat. Your hydraulic supplier can sample your hydraulic fluid and analyze it for potential contaminants, giving you advance notice of fluid issues. If contamination is identified, your supplier will troubleshoot the cause and replace your fluid.
- Checking for the presence of any hydraulic fluid leaks – Hydraulic fluid leaks can introduce contaminants into your hydraulic equipment or interfere with power delivery. Your hydraulic supplier knows exactly where to check for leaks, including around the connectors, hoses, manifolds and seals. During this inspection, your technician will look for both internal and external leaks.
- Checking for any excessively worn components and replacing them – Gears, bearings, seals and fasteners wear quickly and must be replaced on time to avoid costly mechanical failures. Your hydraulic supplier maintains an inventory of replacement components to avoid issues related to early part failure. If excessively worn parts are spotted during an inspection, your technician will switch out the damaged component.
- Verifying all hydraulic systems are still running properly – Before cracking open any of your hydraulic pumps or cylinders, your hydraulic supplier will first verify that every piece of equipment is properly calibrated. This includes checking valve and pump settings to ensure safe flow.
Wind Farms Can Achieve Better Efficiency, Reliability and Safety by Partnering with a Hydraulic Equipment Supplier
Downtime is not an option on wind farms, where lost output results in mounting costs. And a potential failure point at every wind energy facility is hydraulic equipment failure. If one of your hydraulic power units or turbine brake/pitch systems goes down, it will bottleneck operations until the issue is resolved.
Ensure your operations remain productive over the long term by partnering with an experienced hydraulic equipment supplier. With a supplier partner backing your operations, you’ll have access to quality hydraulic equipment when you need it, along with preventative maintenance and priority repairs.
A: Hydraulic equipment suppliers familiarize themselves with their clients’ hydraulic equipment assets, so they can always recommend optimal maintenance and repair solutions. Hydraulic equipment suppliers can also replace hydraulic system components faster, as they have priority access to parts. Many hydraulic equipment suppliers can also provide maintenance services.
A: If your hydraulic equipment goes offline for an extended period, your company may be on the hook for imbalance charges, mobilization charges, specialized labor charges, regulatory/safety fees, on top of lost revenue due to reduced output. This is why it is essential for wind farms keep their hydraulic equipment properly maintained.
Some hydraulic suppliers are also qualified to provide full hydraulic equipment maintenance services. Working with an experienced hydraulic maintenance technician is recommended whenever your hydraulic pumps or cylinders need to be opened up as improper assembly and disassembly can introduce contamination into the system.