Figure 29 Tower internals, courtesy of Steel Wind Tower.
Function
Provide various access, safety, maintenance and storage functions.
What it costs*
The internals cost for a 15 MW wind turbine tower varies significantly by tower design.
Who supplies them
Various including: Global Energy Group, Granfrab, Energy Integrity Services, Sedwell and JR Dynamics.
Key facts
The tower internals provide means of access, lighting and safety for maintenance and service personnel, plus means of transferring hand tools and components to the nacelle. They provide support for control and electrical cables and housing of switchgear, transformers, and other elements of power take-off.
Tower internals also provide storage for survival equipment. A tuned damper may be located at the top of the tower to aide damping of tower and structure resonances.
Design of doorways and attachments points for components is critical for the fatigue life of the tower.
Magnets can be used to attach some components in order to avoid stress concentrations.