The Challenge

The challenge for us will always be loss of Connectivity from the Wind Turbine to the Sub Station where all the information is gathered.

Which ever Wind farm we visit I can pretty much guarantee a beautiful view, a strong breeze along with a few curious farm animals.

The Solution

As the Wind farms are built in remote areas of land sometimes the Fibre Optic cable can be damaged underground where a wooden fence has been erected, we will first prove continuity of the Fibre cores with a VFL (Visual Light Source) to check quickly where the damage may be.

Should the Fibre be damaged underground we will use an OTDR (Fibre tester) to find out where the break is along with how the Fibre Optic link performs as a whole. Once located a decision will be made as to whether a repair of the Fibre or installation of a new Fibre Optic cable is better suited.

Sometimes the Fibre Optic end faces may get dirty when work is carried out on the Turbine its self . We use a Fibre Optic tester with an inspection Camera to look at the end faces, we will clean them or replace as necessary until the correct test limits are achieved across the Fibre link.