Power Generation – Renewable Energy

The generation of Power has become an industry that has had to innovate quickly to be able to keep up with the ever-growing demand for energy around the world. This reliance on energy has created challenges to the industry to not only keep up with demand in the immediate future but to look at how this can be sustained in the long term whilst reducing the environmental impact.

The extraction of coal, natural gases and petroleum continues but a major shift towards renewable energy has evolved where natural elements such as the sea, wind and sun are focussed on.

The Wind Energy industry has become a huge growing area for the Power Generation sector and the installation of Wind Turbines has become more and more familiar across our landscape. The Turbines can be small ones used for domestic applications to large scale Wind Farms installed all over the world. The blades on wind turbines are subjected to excessively high loading and it is essential that the joints where they are bolted to the main shaft maintain their pre-load. WL Series wedge locking washers would be used for these applications as well as on the ladders inside the Turbine and any other areas where bolted joints are present and subjected to the transfer of dynamic loads or vibrations. The remote locations of some of the Wind Farms require the highest levels of bolt security to reduce the expensive and labour-intensive maintenance schedules involved in re-tightening and checking fasteners.

Hydro power is another area for growth and the installation of hydro power generation equipment is becoming more frequent. Tidal power generation systems are subject to high dynamic loading from the waves and therefore require the bolted joints to maintain their load through these loading cycles.

Solar Power installations are not generally subject to dynamic loading through the very nature of the element they are using to produce power but they can be installed in some very exposed areas where high winds would be present. The bolted joints where the solar panels are connected to a structure and also how the frame work is held together are critical. These are generally installed above head height so any loose bolted joints could result in objects falling from above which can lead to major injuries. WL series washers can ensure this is never the case by maintaining the pre-load in the bolted joint from its correct installation.