Energy Transition Requires more Testing Expertise

Operators of power plants and refineries face new challenges: Many plants have been operating for longer than originally planned and are also subject to strong load variations. In order to be able to operate these plants safely, the expert organization DEKRA has observed that specific testing expertise is increasingly required.

The energy transition as well as low oil prices are changing the requirement profile for power plants and industrial plants at home and abroad. For many plants, such as power plants, continuous load variations were not foreseen in the planning phase. These varying loads have a detrimental impact on the service life of the plants. The objective here is to maintain the availability and safe operation for as long as possible.

"Highly specialized testing procedures, inspection services but also solution-orientated services support plant operators in identifying damage mechanisms in time and optimizing their plants," says Werner Bollmann, Head of the DEKRA Material Testing & Inspection business unit, in the run-up to the World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (June 13 to 17, 2016, in Munich, Germany). "Our systems and specialists are increasingly being deployed internationally for inspection orders aimed at improving the plant availability and economic efficiency, in addition to the safety," he says, describing the trend.

With its material testing and inspection of industrial plants, DEKRA has become one of the market-leading companies worldwide in non-destructive testing (NDT). With more than 2,000 employees at locations in ten countries, the DEKRA Material Testing & Inspection business unit offers a highly specialized product portfolio for achieving a higher safety status in industrial plants.

At this year's World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing in Munich, Germany (June 13 to 17, 2016), DEKRA will present innovative concepts, particularly from the field of mechanized inspection procedures (robotics).