Certified maintenance

Husum, 10 September 2008 – Is it possible to check the quality of maintenance carried out on wind turbine generator systems? – Whether on land or offshore, requirements for wind energy generator systems and their maintenance systems are on the increase. SSB Service GmbH, Rheine is the first independent service provider for wind energy generator systems to have their maintenance system audited by Germanischer Lloyd (GL). At the SSB press conference at Husum WindEnergy, Mike Wöbbeking of Germanischer Lloyd handed over the Certification Report for the first certification step of the SSB maintenance system for WTGS to Ulrich Schomakers, Managing Director of SSB. Germanischer Lloyd also introduced its new certification model used for auditing the SSB Service.

The Wind energy division of Germanischer Lloyd falls under the area of certification and inspections, testing and engineering services and consulting. Experts of the company are carrying out tasks and projects for producers of wind turbine generator systems, project managers and suppliers throughout the world. As an international certification body for wind turbine generator systems, wind farms and marine energy, the company provides tests, certifications and expert opinions and is actively involved in the development of national and international standards. GL has been accredited as a provider for certifications based on all relevant standards in the wind and marine energy sector.

For independent WTGS service providers such as SSB Service, certification to industry standard DIN EN ISO 9001 is vital. Nevertheless the company is taking a further decisive step by also having its processes, working methods and work instructions audited and certified by an independent firm in future. As a result SSB aims to speed up the operation of internal business processes and ensure at the same time that the technical processes used are in line with the latest developments. At the same time, the status quo is constantly checked so that potential improvements can be quickly identified and their benefits can be fully utilized.

The GL certification was based, amongst other things, on the Technical Directive for Wind Turbine Generator Systems, part 7: Servicing of wind farms of Fördergesellschaft Windenergie e.V. Major operators but also manufacturers and institutes of the wind industry have been involved in the creation of this directive, dividing certification into the three areas of operation, servicing including quality management, health & safety and the environment as well as training systems.

During the first certification step, Germanischer Lloyd audited the qualification of staff, fault and repair processes and servicing strategies of SSB Service. As part of this process not only the required handling processes but also fault removal processes developed by SSB to describe the numerous potential faults on a WTGS were examined. As a result, the Service team can be informed early about specific faults, ensuring that required spare parts are directly available during a service call-out. Furthermore the documentation of the servicing and the condition of a WTGS in the test reports were examined. These reports are a key part of SSB´s maintenance strategy and exceed the information stipulated and thus expected for maintenance specifications of WTGS.

In future, SSB Service will also examine the control and implementation of call-outs including their documentation and analysis as well as the training system area. All areas will be regularly re-examined, ensuring a high quality of all processes and performances at all times.

Mr. Ulrich Schomakers commented: “We welcome the new certification model of Germanischer Lloyd, as it will make it easier for clients to find a competent independent service provider. At the same time we are extremely proud that SSB Service is one of the first providers of Full Service Packages for WTGS to receive this trendsetting audit report.”