Polytech Unveils Flexible, Easy-to-Install Leading Edge Protection Solution

Thorbjørn Rasmussen and Michael Drachmann Haag of Polytech discuss
the company's new onshore leading edge protection (LEP) product,
designed to be more flexible and easier to install than their
previous offshore version. Get an inside look at the technical
details and customer-focused approach behind Polytech's latest wind
industry innovation. Visit https://www.polytech.com/ for more! Sign
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wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard
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www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.com Joel
Saxum: Okay, guys, we're recording here. We're live right now at
blades USA 24. We're sitting in the area where there's some coffee
and some conversations, ISPs, asset owners, some blade design
engineers, and of course, a lot of solution providers. I'm here
with Polytech came over from Denmark on a world tour. You're
heading back to Denmark. You're going to OMS in San Diego, so we'll
be over there. Okay. So I've got Thorbjørn Rasmussen, chief
commercial officer over at Polytech and also Michael Drakmann Haag.
I got it, right? Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. So chief technical
officer. So we have two of the great minds from the Polytech team
here right now. Polytech, while they do a lot of different
solutions they have some lightning protection things, they sell to
OEMs, sell to asset owners, all the above, out of Denmark. They're
really known for the L shells. L shells is a product that if you're
dealing in wind turbine maintenance at all, you know that the
leading edge is a problem and the L shells were developed for
offshore use originally, correct? And they have been installed some
onshore turbines, some high erosion areas, or even people that are
like, you know what? I think this is the solution. I don't have to
touch my leading edges for 10, 15, 20 years. I'm putting the big
stuff in. So you guys have been behind the scenes, behind the
curtain, working on another kind of version of that, but adjusted
specifically for onshore. Yes, tell us about that. Michael
Drachmann Haag: Yeah, so we've taken all of the great learnings
that we've had on the yellow onshore, offshore products, and then
we've taken and built. On those innovations. And then we designed a
product that then is easier to install comes at a lower price point
as well. And really sets aside from the more, you could say more
complicated stuff that you get out in the industry. But while still
having the the great performance and also then we don't need the
material to cure at site, which we often see with coatings and
other products. So I think we really try to say that. All of the
good things we have from the offshore, we build in that, that into
an offshore product. And yeah. Joel Saxum: So I would say, as you
thought, so driving this market, primary market research, as we
call it, of course, in the commercial world, did you have asset
owners come to you and say, hey, this is great, but we'd like this?
Thorbjørn Rasmussen: Absolutely. We have been cooperating a lot
with the ISP out there, getting feedback for installation method
and and what was actually difficult or less easy for the, let's say
the premium version. And then asset owners is when they, Take the
decision very shortly sometimes they want to run a campaign So it
should be easy accessible and so forth and all that feedback has
gone back to Michael and the department and try to make sure that
was incorporated in the solution And we can elaborate more on this
one. Joel Saxum: Yeah. Yeah, but I would say that it's feedback
from the last five years from the field all over the world. Yeah,
the best kind of feedback. X. What's happening. Empirical data from
the field is what we want to change things on. Exactly. We could
test in a lab all day, and that's great. We need to do that. But
when we get results back from the field, that's what we want. So
let's talk a little bit about the differences between the new
Onshore product and what the L looks like. Offshore product was or
is still, of course it's still offered. Michael Drachmann Haag: I
think that the primary part that really sets it aside is the
thickness of the material itself. So the thickness of the material
on the offshore product is thicker and thereby also having high
performance, but it also entails that we need to tailor make that
product into the specific blade. So it really provides a high
performance, the highest performance in the industry. But it had to
be tailor made to a specific blades. Now we set aside with a
thinner product that is more flexible and can be installed faster
and can actually also be installed. Let's say it's a more, it's not
going to be tailor made to the specific blade, meaning it can be
installed on all blades directly out of the box. Joel Saxum: Oh,
that's fantastic. Michael Drachmann Haag: And that's, I think
that's really is one of the things that sets aside. What we then
took as innovations as well is that we have the split liner on LA
offshore. And we took that great innovation and then we transferred
that to a lawn show for ease of installation as well. That's huge.
Joel Saxum: I want to touch back on the point of being able to
install on different parts of a fleet. So in the United States, of
course, we have large wind farms. That's a hallmark of kind of the
market over here. And in those large wind farms, you'll see
sometimes, we deal with it at WeatherGuard quite often, you'll see
sometimes, four different manufacturers of blades and two or three
different subtypes of blades in a specific wind farm. And we just
dealt with this one in an on one product. So if you have say let's
take an example of GE, the new GE generation turbines, the two Xs,
right? Two five, two eight twos. They're regularly come with 116
meter blades and 100 or 116 meter rotors, not blades, sorry, and
127. And Within those two sub models, you also have TPI can make
your blades, LM can make your blades. There's a bunch of different
manufacturers and there is little discrepancies between them. So if
you had to have a custom made solution such as the L shells, the or
the offshore shells, it would be a little bit more difficult. Now
with the onshore version, you're saying, Hey guys, you want to do a
capital campaign? You want to install on a hundred turbines? Here's
the product. It'll work on every one of them. Yeah. Michael
Drachmann Haag: You just need to order the number of meters you
need. And then the final adjustment right at the tip where there's
a big curvature on the blade. Yeah. That's the point where you do a
small modification, but that modification can be done on site.
Perfect. So perfect. That really either blade make or turbine
model. It really just can be fixed on anything. Joel Saxum: So
let's talk a little bit more about the technical details of leading
edge protection. From an expert's standpoint, we regularly hear,
you should put on four meters, you should put on six meters, you
should put on 10 meters. You could do two meters of shells or three
meters of shells and this much of a tape or this much of a coating.
If you were, if you had a wind farm, and I know every one of them
is different, say I'm going to put you in the middle of Texas. How
many meters of this new product do you think you'd put on? Michael
Drachmann Haag: It really depends on your specific turbine, right?
So the bigger turbines will also require more, a bigger length, a
longer length of protection. But what we typically do, and we can
do that for any site in the world, we can offer a calculation, a
specific calculation for that specific site, that specific turbine,
that allows you to exactly predict What do you need? And we will
then be able to sell you exactly what you need. No more, no less.
Then there might be some some campaigns where you fix it, fix the
number to installing 10 meters, because that fits within a day of
working day. And then it might be that is the right option for that
specific site. It really depends based on the customer. But I think
we try to deliver the calculations behind, but also the product
that can then fulfill that. Joel Saxum: So if an asset owner or an
ISP or an asset owner and ISP in conjunction, contact Polytech to
say, Hey, we're looking at your leading edge protection solutions.
You guys can also offer the customer success first support part of
that too. Hey guys, we believe through calculation that this is how
much you need. So when you're contacting you guys, you're
contacting experts in LEP. Michael Drachmann Haag: Yes. They'll get
a report that then says what is the expected length you need, but
also what is the expected repairance was. If there are any repair
intervals. So that means that they can already now plan the
predicted maintenance. Yeah. So when do you need to go and look at
the blade again? Joel Saxum: Yeah. Michael Drachmann Haag: And when
do you then need to maybe plan for repair? Thorbjørn Rasmussen:
Okay. Michael Drachmann Haag: Again, depending on site conditions
and terminal conditions. Thorbjørn Rasmussen: Just a little caveat
to this calculator. It's based upon two heavy input. The one is 20
years of weather data from NASA. Simply put into a database. And
then correlate it with many hours in the wind erosion tester,
sorry, the rain erosion tester. And then combining, of course, with
verification on let's do this.