Wind power accidents occur frequently, with serious quality issues regarding the equipment. Behind the collapse of the Datang wind turbines···
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On February 19, two wind turbines at the Poguan Houhai Wind Farm, which is owned by Datang Power, collapsed in a ravine. With a loud crash, each wind turbine, costing around 15 million yuan, was declared unusable. Subsequently, photos of the wind turbines at that wind farm lying on the snowy ground began to spread within the wind energy community. These professionals are also communicating with each other to determine which component of the fan is problematic Photos from the collapse site show that the flange neck on the tower foundation ring was torn by the falling tower body. Based on this, the industry believes that flange quality issues may be the cause of the fan collapse. According to the available information, it is Shanxi Jinrui High-Pressure Ring Parts Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shanxi Jinrui”) that manufactures the flanges for Datang fans. The \"Product Quality Certificate\" provided by this company indicates that the raw materials come from Jiangyin Xingcheng Special Steel. But such speculation caused strong dissatisfaction among Xingcheng Special Steel. On March 11 and March 14, Xingcheng Special Steel issued two legal statements, stating that the flange raw materials produced by Shanxi Jinrui were not supplied by Xingcheng Special Steel, and that the aforementioned \"Product Quality Certificates\" were forged by Shanxi Jinrui. Reporters from China Business News have learned that **the relevant authorities are conducting inspections on the collapsed fan in question, and the final determination of responsibility has not yet been announced. Meanwhile, major wind power companies have also issued urgent notices recently to ensure strict quality control over wind power components entering their facilities. But it was the collapse of these two turbines that revealed just the tip of the iceberg of problems in China’s wind turbine manufacturing industry, such as low-price competition and unstable product quality. The parts supplier forged product quality certificates. The project in question is located in Shuiquan Township and Wanjiazhai Town, Pianguan County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province; it was built with an investment of 450 million yuan by Datang Shanxi New Energy Co., Ltd. The first phase of the project has an installed capacity of 48,000 kilowatts, with 24 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2,000 kilowatts, being installed there. It is worth noting that on September 25, 2015, the wind farm announced that its first wind turbine had been connected to the grid and was generating electricity. Only 5 months have passed since this accident occurred. According to people familiar with the wind power industry, at the Datang Power Pianguan Houhai Wind Farm where the accident occurred, not only were two turbines collapsed, but two other turbines were also damaged. Photos provided to the reporters from the scene showed that the flange neck on the foundation ring of the collapsed wind turbine tower had been torn by the tower body. The flange necks of the foundation rings of the other two damaged fans were cracked, with the crack length reaching half of the weld seam of the tower ring. Wind turbine flanges are structural components that connect the turbine tower to the main unit, and they are made of low-alloy high-strength steel. Generally, a 200-kilowatt wind turbine requires 9 flanges. Since the collapsed and damaged wind turbines in this accident all exhibited obvious cracks on their flanges, Shanxi Jinrui, which manufactures these flanges for this wind farm, as well as its downstream suppliers, have become the focus of attention in the wind energy industry. According to the \"Product Quality Certificate\" provided by Shanxi Jinrui, the company that supplies the raw materials to it is Jiangyin Xingcheng Special Steel Company. However, on March 11 and March 14, Xingcheng Special Steel published two statements from its authorized lawyers on its official website, revealing more details behind the collapse of the wind turbines. Xingcheng Special Steel stated in its legal statement that the furnace numbers and signatures of the persons responsible listed in the \"Product Quality Certificate\" were incorrect; the company had never issued such a certificate, and it was forged. Secondly, Shanxi Jinrui has not purchased steel from Xingcheng Special Steel in the past two years. The statement mentioned that the last time Shanxi Jinrui purchased steel from Xingcheng Special Steel was before September 2013. The Datang Pianguan Haihai Wind Farm, where the accident occurred, did not begin operations until September 2014. In the second statement, Xingcheng Special Steel stated that the chairman of Shanxi Jinrui had, on March 11, led relevant personnel to Xingcheng Special Steel to apologize and sign a declaration, admitting that the aforementioned \"Product Quality Certificate\" was forged by a former employee of Shanxi Jinrui. Shanxi Jinrui is a large-scale flange manufacturing enterprise in China. According to available information, its partner companies include five major power groups, as well as enterprises such as MingYang Wind Power, Goldwind Science & Technology, Huarui Wind Power, and Xiangdian Group. “It is inappropriate to describe it as forgery. ”On the afternoon of March 16, a staff member from Shanxi Jinrui’s marketing department said in an interview with reporters that although the company has not signed direct contracts with Xingcheng Special Steel over the past two years, it has purchased some materials from steel traders. “**The test results should be available soon, and we are ‘very optimistic’ about them. ”The individual emphasized to the reporters that **the relevant departments are currently inspecting the collapsed fan, and this does not necessarily mean that the flanges produced by the company have quality issues. However, regarding the two key questions raised by the journalist – the origin of the raw materials purchased by the company over these two years and why a \"Product Quality Certificate\" that is not recognized by Xingcheng Special Steel was used – the person said they were unaware of them. In the tender document for flanges at the Datang Shanxi Pianguan Shuiquan wind farm in 2013, the reporter saw that companies producing flanges were subject to strict qualification requirements: they had to have a comprehensive quality assurance system in line with the ISO-9000 series as well as an environmental protection system, along with the corresponding certification documents; they needed to have at least three years of experience in manufacturing wind turbine flanges, deliver at least 300 sets of flanges per year, and not have experienced any serious quality issues in projects carried out by the Datang Group over the past three years. Since Xingcheng Special Steel claims that Shanxi Jinrui has not purchased any of its steel products in the past two years, where does Shanxi Jinrui obtain its raw materials? Do these raw material suppliers possess the necessary qualifications for steel production? Furthermore, by using Xingcheng Special Steel’s \"Product Quality Certificate\" fraudulently, how can the quality of such steel be guaranteed? These mysteries still need to be further unraveled. Companies insist on strict quality control. The head of Xingcheng Special Steel’s legal department told reporters on March 17 that the company is applying to the authorities to initiate an investigation into this incident, and it will not provide any further comments until the final results of the investigation are available. On the other hand, as the owner of this incident, Datang Group’s Shanxi branch has yet to provide any response. Our newspaper’s reporters have tried to contact Datang Shanxi Company on several occasions; the person in charge of its office provided the reporter with the contact details of the company’s public relations officer, but no response has been received as of the time of publication. This seemingly routine wind turbine collapse has drawn widespread attention within the wind energy industry. “The collapse of fans not only results in losses for corporate investments but can also lead to casualties, causing severe damage to the company! ”A person from a state-owned wind power company told reporters that after what happened at Datang, the company has begun requiring strict inspections of components such as the flanges on wind turbines. As for the wind turbines that have cooperated with Shanxi Jinrui over the past two years and are already generating electricity and connected to the grid, there is also a risk of collapse, along with high costs associated with testing. It is understood that regarding the inspection of tower flanges upon arrival at the factory, several major power generation companies now require on-site staff to conduct additional inspections of the raw materials, in particular carrying out technical flaw detection on the neck portion of the flanges. In addition, the welds of the flanges as well as their neck areas must be inspected again after welding. The person said that after the wind turbine collapsed, the entire original foundation structure had to be blown up; and to install a new wind turbine, a new bidding process would be required for its construction. More importantly, if one fan fails, the daily loss in power generation exceeds 20,000 yuan, and it takes a long time to put a new fan into operation and connect it to the grid; as a result, the company suffers significant losses in power generation. Source: China Business News. Author: Wang Lining. Responsible editor: Zhong Qiming_NF5619
When seeing similar incidents, there are always many thoughts. There are so many safety accidents happening around us, yet they never seem to be enough to remind everyone to pay attention! ! ! In the procurement of raw materials, too many quality risks are obscured by price. As a result, there are far too many companies passing off inferior products as high-quality ones, using fakes to deceive customers. The companies that purchase these materials lack knowledge and expertise in this area, and there are also flaws in the testing procedures in place. The market is flooded with low-priced products, and it’s full of counterfeits and even fake goods. Too many genuine products are seen as being overpriced, and too many professional explanations are considered attempts to trick buyers into paying high prices for them! ! Providing such fake, counterfeit products at low prices is, in small terms, gambling; in larger terms, it is deliberate murder! ! I believe that many suppliers who truly intend to be honest and reliable in their operations, and who genuinely want to develop together with their customers, often feel lost in such a raw material market. However, it is gratifying to see that in the end one adheres to the right path, to the correct business principles that benefit both others and oneself. Quality is the foundation of a company’s development, while safety is something that everyone must be involved in when engaging in social activities. Both the users and the raw material suppliers (including vendors) must be responsible for quality and safety; they must not rely on luck to bypass safety standards, as this can lead to serious consequences that harm others as well as themselves.
Quality issues should have been considered before the accident occurred
The quality of wind power equipment is not up to standard.
Low-price competition and unstable product quality; firmly resist the idea that winning bids can be achieved by using low prices! ! ! !
There’s even more to the story behind this – the government drives production and shapes the market, **that’s what makes it special~! It’s fine now; whatever happens, it’s okay. If something goes wrong, just shift the blame on each other~~!
Malicious competition and passing off inferior products – how many hidden dangers lie behind this?
Such incidents have been all too common in projects over the past few years; during the bidding process, no consideration is given to factors such as performance, safety, service life, or after-sales support – the only focus is on securing a low bid. As a result, safety accidents occur frequently, causing huge losses to companies...
There is a sense of luck among them; the boss always thinks about reducing costs by using materials from smaller manufacturers, which are cheaper and can be purchased on credit. Additionally, winning bids at low prices is also a factor
In today’s companies, it’s the leaders who make the decisions, and most of them focus on profitability rather than quality. Procurement is done by selecting the lowest bidder, and employees, knowing it’s wrong, dare not disobey – so how can there be no quality problems? Ah! Quality! When will most companies be honest and prioritize quality?
I really want to know the outcome of how this matter will be handled; only by taking serious action against those directly and indirectly responsible can quality be given due attention!