Sulzer Schmid, a Swiss company pioneering UAV technology for rotor blade inspections, and Ülke Enerji, the largest independent wind farm service provider in Turkey, have teamed up to provide autonomous drone-based blade inspections to Nordex / Acciona Windpower on all of their wind turbines located in Turkey.

By licensing Sulzer Schmid's advanced inspection technology, Ülke Enerji becomes the only player to offer high-definition rotor blade inspection campaigns by means of autonomous drones in the fast-developing Turkish wind market.

Ülke Enerji has already completed blade inspection campaigns in three wind farms equipped with Nordex /Acciona Windpower wind turbines this year. Further inspections have been planned in the short run. "We are happy to have completed these inspections successfully. This is a significant step forward on the road to wider market adoption of high-quality drone-based inspections in Turkey", said Ali Aydın, General Manager of Ülke Enerji.

The combination of Sulzer Schmid's state-of-the-art inspection technology and the field operation and health & safety expertise of Ülke Enerji provides wind turbine inspection at an unprecedented level of quality and cost effectiveness to the Turkish wind industry. The autonomously flying drones of the 3DX Inspection Platform of Sulzer Schmid assure high-definition quality and consistent image acquisition time as well as 100% blade coverage while minimizing human errors and operational risks.

Thanks to the powerful capabilities offered by unmanned aerial vehicles, the market for blade inspections by means of autonomous drone is becoming increasingly dynamic.  "It is becoming clear that UAV technology will play a central role in wind turbine inspections from here on in. It offers the best possible performance in terms of campaign quality, time and cost effectiveness. With the complimentary expertise of Sulzer Schmid and Ülke Enerji, we believe we have access to the soundest inspection solution currently available on the market in Turkey", commented Ferit YeÅŸilay, Head of Service Turkey of Nordex /Acciona Windpower.

"Nordex /Acciona Windpower are very significant players for Sulzer Schmid. And we are very satisfied that a local industry leader such as Ülke Enerji has decided to adopt our 3DX inspection platform to serve them in this important wind market", concluded Tom Sulzer and Christof Schmid, Co-founders of Sulzer Schmid.

Sulzer Schmid | www.sulzerschmid.com 

Ülke Enerji | http://ulkeenerji.com.tr