YAW GEARBOX REFURBISHMENT SERVICE SLASHES ONSHORE WIND TURBINE DOWNTIME
Designed in collaboration with ERIKS’ European Centre of Excellence in Pensnett and refined through collaboration with leading UK operators, the new cell enables ERIKS to receive, inspect and refurbish yaw gearboxes in as little as 16 hours. This compares to current lead times of up to nine months for new replacement units; a delay that can equate to more than £450,000 in lost generation revenue per turbine.
Peter Mitchell, Renewables Director at ERIKS, said: “We’ve listened to our customers and designed a solution to a problem that was causing long-term outages. This solution now restores functionality in less than a day. Through careful materials testing and process innovation, we’ve not only addressed the cause of the failure but created a stronger, more sustainable alternative to new gearboxes.”
The yaw gearbox cell focuses on 2.3MW turbines that are widely used in UK wind farms. Each turbine contains eight yaw gearboxes responsible for aligning the nacelle with the wind. These units were found to suffer from frequent failures in the fourth-stage carrier, leading to premature failure under normal operating loads.
With OEM support for spares limited, ERIKS reverse-engineered the critical components, using 3D scanning and full metallurgical analysis before upgrading and recasting parts to a higher material specification. The result is an enhanced design that improves upon the original by increasing robustness and incorporating improved bearings, advanced polymer seals, and greater load handling capacity.
The facility in Aberdeen, equipped with clean and dirty zones, craneage, custom tooling, and full test rigs, is fully stocked with replacement components to support a rapid turnaround. It also delivers a significant circular economy benefit: by replacing just 16kg of material in a 250kg gearbox, over 90% of the unit is reused, diverting more than 230kg from landfill with each refurbishment.
Peter continued: “This isn’t just a repair service – it’s a complete production cell, designed for speed, quality, and traceability. Every refurbished unit includes a laser-etched QR code linked to our Smart Asset Management system (SAM), giving operators instant access to its full repair history, inspection reports and material certificates. We’re supporting both uptime and asset governance in one package.”
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This article appeared in Renew magazine. To read more or request your personal digital or print edition of Renew, click here.
