Wind energy · Fleet programme
Service Exchange for Wind Fleets
A breaker failure should cost one climb, not a fortnight of lost generation. Service exchange puts a tested, certified unit for your turbine models on the shelf before the fault happens — dispatched the day it's reported, with the failed unit repaired back into the pool afterwards.
- DispatchSame working day
- Unit conditionOverhauled, injection-tested
- PoolSized per fleet, per model
- OwnershipYours or ours — by agreement
Why exchange
Repair-and-return is the wrong shape for a turbine
Workshop repair is fast — 24 to 48 hours on the bench for most ACBs. But the bench is not the critical path. The critical path is: fault reported, technician climbs and confirms, unit removed on a second climb, couriered, diagnosed, quoted, approved, repaired, returned, third climb to refit. A week is a good outcome. Across that week the turbine produced nothing.
Service exchange collapses that sequence. The technician climbs once, with a tested unit already in the van, swaps it, and the turbine is back on before the failed breaker has left site. The failed unit comes to us, is overhauled and tested, and goes back on the shelf as the next exchange unit for that model. The fleet's exposure to a single breaker failure drops from days to hours.
It also solves the obsolescence problem quietly. An exchange pool of rebuilt first-generation units means the OEM's end-of-life letter stops being a fleet-wide upgrade project and becomes a stock-management question.
| Turbine downtime | Exchange: hours · Repair & return: days to weeks |
| Climbs | Exchange: one · Repair & return: two or three |
| Unit fitted | Overhauled and injection-tested with certificate, in both cases |
| Obsolete models | Exchange: pool absorbs end-of-life · Repair & return: each failure is a lead-time risk |
| Cost model | Exchange: pool set-up plus a fixed exchange fee per event · Repair & return: quoted per repair |
How it works
Setting up a pool
Fleet survey
Turbine models, breaker and contactor part numbers, ratings, trip unit types and settings. From the asset register, or from nameplate photos on the next round of climbs.
Pool sizing
Failure history and fleet size set how many of each unit the pool holds. Most fleets need one or two per model, not one per turbine.
Seed units
The pool is built from your spares, overhauled and certified, or from donor units we source and rebuild. Ownership is agreed at set-up.
Call-off
Fault reported — a tested unit, set to your protection settings, leaves the same working day by courier or dedicated vehicle.
Return & rebuild
The failed unit comes back, is stripped, overhauled and tested, and rejoins the pool. You receive the strip-down report so fleet-wide failure patterns are visible.
What's in the pool
Breakers and contactors, current and obsolete
Pools are built around the units that actually take turbines off: the 690 V main ACB, the generator and crowbar contactors, and on some models the grid-side breaker. Every pooled unit is overhauled to the full turbine breaker or contactor scope, injection-tested, certified, and stored charged-spring-discharged and desiccated. Units are re-tested before dispatch if they have been on the shelf longer than twelve months.
For first-generation fleets, the pool is where obsolete-breaker capability pays off: rebuilt Emax, Masterpact and 3WL units with modern trip units engineered in, held ready, so the OEM's discontinuation notice never becomes an outage.
| Main / generator ACB | 1–2 per model in the fleet, set to the fleet's protection settings |
| Generator contactor | 1–2 per frame size; contact kits and coils held alongside |
| Crowbar / rotor contactor | 1 per frame size on DFIG fleets |
| Grid-side breaker | Where fitted — 1 per model |
| Consumables | Contact sets, coils, charging motors, auxiliary blocks for the models in the pool |
FAQs
Frequently asked
Who owns the exchange units?
Either arrangement works. Fleets with existing spares usually keep ownership and we hold, maintain and certify the pool. Where we source and rebuild the seed units, the pool is ours and you pay a fixed exchange fee per event. The agreement sets it out.
What if the failed unit is beyond repair?
We tell you, with the strip-down evidence, and quote a replacement unit into the pool — a rebuilt donor or a tested unit from our sister company's stock. The pool doesn't shrink without you knowing.
Can the exchange unit be pre-set to our protection settings?
Yes, and it should be. Settings are recorded at survey per turbine model and every dispatched unit is set and injection-tested at those settings, so the technician's job is fit, connect and close.
Do you hold pools for US fleets?
Yes — the pool sits in Yorkshire and units move by air freight, which we already do for US customers. See repair for US wind operators.
Get started
Tell us about the breaker
Make, model and rating from the nameplate, plus a description of the fault. We'll come back with a clear recommendation and a fixed price — usually the same working day.
- Workshop & office01977 253063
- Out of hours07496 013884
- Email & photosinfo@circuitbreakerrepair.co.uk
- WorkshopUnit 13–17 Dale Court, Pontefract, West Yorkshire WF9 3FL