DeWind Co., a US-based manufacturer of wind turbines, has initiated the replacement of blades for five wind turbines at the Wind Energy Institute of Canada (Institute) Wind Energy R&D Park on Prince Edward Island, Canada, north of the community of Tignish. DeWind’s machines were selected for their unique generating qualities to be paired with ongoing research at the Wind Energy Institute of Canada including turbine testing and utility scale storage. With the Institute’s focus on research, the project will add to Canada’s understanding of the production, operation, storage, and installation of small and large wind energy technologies.

DeWind provided five 2MW D9.2 Wind Turbines, which operated for a short time and issues were detected with the blades. After inspections and attempts to repair the blades it was decided by both parties that the blades should be replaced.

Young Jae Choi, president and COO of DeWind, comments, “We have made the commercial decision to replace the Institute’s blades after initial operation indicated a quality problem that could potentially impact the operational life of those machines.”

“As you would expect from an organization of DeWind and DSME’s stature, they are standing behind their project obligations,” states Scott Harper, the Institute’s CEO. “We appreciate their continued support as we move forward with our Wind Energy R&D Park and Storage System project.”

The Institute’s 10MW site, located near the northern-most point of the island, is an ideal aggressive wind regime to showcase the latest enhancements to the 2MW platform which DeWind has been building since 2002. Currently, DeWind 2MW turbines are installed and operating in numerous locations in Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States.