Onshore and Offshore Wind Engineering 2018: 60 Seconds with Peter Greaves of ORE Catapult

​Ahead of speaking at the Onshore and Offshore Wind Engineering 2018 conference, we caught up with Peter Greaves, Research Engineer for Blades at ORE Catapult. Peter explained his role and involvement in onshore/offshore wind engineering, the critical challenges and what he is looking forward to at the event.

Q: Could you briefly explain your involvement in onshore/offshore wind engineering?

Peter Greaves (PG): I am a research structural engineer working on wind turbine blades for the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. My doctoral studies were focussed on fatigue analysis and testing of wind turbine blades, which is an area which I continue to be active in.

Q: How critical is effective operations and maintenance to the wind industry?

PG: Operations and maintenance represents a large chunk of the cost of energy from wind, and it can often be low-hanging fruit when it comes to reducing costs. Particularly offshore, unnecessary mobilisations and failures which aren’t picked up before they become critical can be hugely costly.<

Q: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the onshore and offshore wind industry and how do you think it can be overcome?

PG: The recent award of a project with a strike price of just £57.50/MWh will be a significant challenge for the industry, requiring not just the development of very large wind turbines but also an extremely effective O&M strategy. Also, as the deployment of large scale renewable energy continues apace cost-effective energy storage will be essential.

Q: What do you think is the most important thing to consider when dealing with/managing wind turbines as an asset?

PG: It is essential to schedule maintenance effectively, so that you don’t end up doing repairs that aren’t necessary or ignoring something minor which turns into a major problem.

Q: What are you most looking forward to by attending and presenting at the Onshore and Offshore Wind Engineering 2018 conference?

PG:  I think the event will be an invaluable opportunity to understand the challenges that owner-operators are facing, and also to inform key people in the industry about what we as an organisation are doing to address these issues.

Find out more

Peter will be speaking at Onshore and Offshore Wind Engineering 2018 conference on 23 –24 May 2018 in Manchester. Join him and other experts from E.ON Climate and Renewables, Engie, London Array, EDF Energy, Siemens Gamesa, SSE, Vestas Technology UK Ltd and more.

Key programme highlights:

• Reduce risk in your operations and maintenance offshore by hearing case studies from successful projects carried out
• Improve turbine and blade design to reduce your LCOE with insight on the latest developments from pioneering wind organisations
• Hear from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Working Group to ensure you are up-to-date with the changes to wind IEC standards
• Meet with key players in the wind industry including operations and maintenance, design and asset engineers from operators, OEMS and solution providers

For further information, visit the Onshore and Offshore Wind Engineering 2018.