How to Protect Wind Turbine Foundation Bolts from the Effects of Corrosion

The condition of the bolts and nuts is critical to the long-term survival of the tower.

Bolt tension issues have been identified as a cause for failure in turbine collapses as have bolt failures from the effects of corrosion.

Yet many bolts are left exposed to the elements, with the result that corrosion rapidly occurs.

Proprietary solutions exist for post-construction remediation of corrosion damage to exposed bolts, including tape wraps, grease and bolt caps, but all suffer from limitations that require frequent maintenance or replacement to prevent corrosion damage to the turbine anchors. If the nuts and threads corrode, retensioning anchor bolts properly is impossible.

The entire turbine structure relies on a few relatively small nuts to ensure it is firmly fixed to the anchor bolts, yet it is left to the operator to ensure they get the protection they need.

We think protection of these nuts is pretty important. Turbine towers do not collapse very frequently and, because they tend to be off the beaten track, injuries from such collapses are rare but the cost of replacement runs into millions and the constant vigilance that is required to maintain the bolts is wasteful and unnecessary.

The Enviropeel solution to wind turbine foundation bolt corrosion is simple.

Anchor bolts can vary in length but the exposed threads are always several inches long, so providing the correct size of bolt cap can be a problem. Because Enviropeel bolt applications will fit any size or shape of bolt, it provides a straightforward, one-size fits all solution, but this is not its only advantage over bolt caps.