GE 2.X blades are experiencing excessive lightning damage. We know why this is happening, and we detailed the issues in a recent article in PES Wind magazine. But unless you’re involved in turbine blade design, the more immediate concern is what to do about the lightning damage.
Here’s what you need to know.
Cost-effective Protection Against Lightning Damage
GE 2.X blades are experiencing damage about 1 in 10 lightning strokes – that’s five times the “normal” levels defined in IEC. It’s happening for a number of reasons involving tip shape, high speed, leading edge erosion and some other factors.
Lightning damage costs money – and in addition to downtime and repairs, repairs are rarely covered by insurance.
StrikeTape protects blades from lightning damage by directing lightning safely to the blades’ existing receptors. When lightning strikes, the best-case scenario is that it hits the receptors; that’s how the design is supposed to work. And, independent tests show that it works.
StrikeTape is cost-effective, simple and fast to install. This video describes the simple four-step process. One tech, on ropes, a platform or on the ground during component exchange, can add StrikeTape to a blade in a matter of minutes.
StrikeTape is protecting more than 16,000 blades worldwide from lightning damage. Learn more about it here, watch the video, or just contact us for a consultation and to order now.
Share this with your Technicians!
When they watch the video they’ll understand the installation process and then they can enter to win a Yeti cooler and some other cool swag.
Why the GE 2.X?
As I explained in the PES Wind article, my first career experience was working for GE, and this is not a personal knock on the blades. It’s a known problem with the 2.X blades as I and others in the field have noted, repeatedly, and operators in the US midwest and western states are experiencing especially high losses from damage.
In talking to those who have installed StrikeTape, the results are immediate and clear – fewer strikes, dramatically less downtime and damages.
But Why is it Happening?
The problems that are occurring, more and more frequently, are not really design-related; rather they’re the result of the failure of our current IEC standards not keeping up with the reality of taller blades, moving faster, and the more frequent, intense storms we see as weather patterns change. A deeper dive into the technology (and the standards) can be found in the PES Wind 2-24 article.
The Bottom Line?
Watch the video. Enter to win the Yeti. Give us a call if you have questions. Order StrikeTape and protect your blades.
