CASE STUDY•Offshore Wind•REAL-TIME MONITORING
Crack Growth Monitoring (Siemens SWT 2.3, Scotland)
Crack Detected in 14 Days. Drone Confirmed It Five Months Later.
10
TURBINES MONITORED
Siemens SWT 2.3 fleet, Scotland
14 DAYS
INSTALLATION TO DETECTION
01
CHALLENGE & SOLUTION
THE CHALLENGE
Remote fleets share a common blind spot: damage develops between inspections and goes undetected. For these 10 Siemens SWT 2.3 turbines in Scotland, the next scheduled inspection was months away. A transverse crack forming at mid-span would have been invisible until it became costly — or catastrophic.
THE SOLUTION
Windrover was installed on 6 June 2025. Within 14 days its acoustic sensors flagged a CAT3–CAT4 signal consistent with a crack-type defect. No site visit. No drone. No guesswork — the anomaly surfaced from the blade's own acoustic signature, continuous and automatic, monitored from shore.
02
THE DAMAGE — DRONE INSPECTION FINDING, NOVEMBER 2025
- WINDROVER DETECTED
- CAT3–CAT4 Signal
- Surface Gap or Opening
- Suspected Crack-Type Damage
- DRONE CONFIRMED
- CAT3 Transverse Crack
- Size: 69 × 12 cm
- Location: Mid-Span
5 months later. Exact match.
03
WHAT THIS MEANT FOR THE FLEET
Early Detection
A CAT3–CAT4 crack signal was raised 14 days after installation — five months before the next scheduled inspection would have found it.
No Unplanned Site Visit
The defect was identified, categorised, and flagged remotely. No technician dispatch was needed to discover the problem.
Intervention Before Escalation
Repair was planned with advance notice — before the crack progressed to CAT4–CAT5 and the decision became emergency, not maintenance.
04
HOW IT UNFOLDED
December 2024
Baseline InspectionTurbines inspected. No damage found.
6 June 2025
Windrover Installed24/7 acoustic monitoring begins across all 10 turbines.
20 June 2025
CAT3–CAT4 Signal DetectedAcoustic anomaly flagged — 14 days after install.
November 2025
Drone Confirms the Crack69 × 12 cm transverse crack at mid-span. Prediction exact.
Blade damage doesn't wait for the next inspection. Windrover doesn't either.
Offshore operations demand precision.
Detect cracks early, plan repairs proactively, and keep turbines running.
SEE IT IN ACTION →