Offshore staff
HØVIK, Norway — DNV has revised its DNV-ST-0376 rotor blade standard due to developments in wind turbines.
This follows a joint industry collaboration to address the changing needs of wind turbine developers, owners and operators focused on improved reliability and performance.
The program addressed the requirements of large, flexible blades for multi-megawatt turbines.
“Not all wind turbine blades are created equal," said Christopher Harrison, DNV’s principal engineer and service line leader for Component Certification, Energy Systems. "Different design assumptions and methods, along with varying performance during validation tests, can result in differing blade performance over their lifespan.”
Twenty-six companies participated, including manufacturers, operators and certifiers, to help refine and review the standard. Main deliverables include
- Enhanced reliability through rigorous requirements and approaches;
- Alignment with international standards, supporting streamlined certification;
- Introduction of new concepts such as damage tolerance to raise safety standards; and
- Increased focus on design for manufacture and understanding the relationship between manufacturing quality and reliability.
In addition, DNV revised the blade standard to address real-world failure modes and defects for large flexible blades in multi-megawatt turbines, and sought to align the standard’s requirements with IEC 61400-5 where possible, with input from other certification bodies.
"Our goal was to provide wind turbine stakeholders with the tools and knowledge necessary to navigate the complexities of blade development," Harrison said.
05.29.2024
