Case study: Nordic Windpower's critical blade failures
by John Bauer; James Eastham
International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems (IJTIS), Vol. 5, No. 2, 2016

Abstract: In 2007, the start-up wind turbine generator (WTG) manufacturer, Nordic Windpower, officially launched in North America as a merger between Swedish, USA, and UK development teams. Based on a design researched and funded by the Swedish Government, Nordic Windpower developed the N1000, a two-bladed, 1 MW WTG geared toward the distributed and community wind market. The N1000 was the first utility-scale, two-bladed WTG of its size in North America. Serial production of the N1000 began in 2009, producing a total of eight units. During commissioning, field testing, and after grid production, repeated failures of the fixed-pitch and stall-regulated rotor braking system prevented Nordic Windpower from meeting contractual obligations. On August 28, 2013, Nordic Windpower LLC liquidated the business under Chapter 7. This case study examines Nordic Windpower's critical blade failures from a systems engineering perspective, identifies best practices, and offers potential solutions for Nordic Windpower's development process.

Online publication date: Mon, 06-Feb-2017

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems (IJTIS):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

    Username:        Password:         

Forgotten your password?


Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com