Erosion along the leading edge of rotor blades — caused by the ravages of rain, sun and abrasive airborne particles such as grit and salt — is a root cause of underperformance across the world’s 370GW fleet of turbines, costing the industry millions of dollars a year in unplanned repairs and lost power production.
No-one knows exactly how widespread the problem is, though leading-edge erosion (LEE) is a prime suspect in many of the 3,800 turbine-disabling blade failures around the globe each year.
