Wind turbine condition monitoring: technical and commercial challenges

TLDR

Deployment of large offshore wind turbines demands organized operation and maintenance, with reliability‑centered maintenance and condition monitoring identified as key strategies to enhance availability and reduce energy costs, yet existing reviews overlook the technical and commercial challenges of current monitoring technologies. This paper aims to fill that gap by providing a detailed analysis of the practical technical and commercial challenges facing current wind turbine condition monitoring technologies. The study systematically reviews existing monitoring technologies, assessing their technical performance and commercial viability to pinpoint gaps and propose improvements. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Deployment of larger scale wind turbine systems, particularly offshore, requires more organized operation and maintenance strategies to ensure systems are safe, profitable and cost‐effective. Among existing maintenance strategies, reliability centred maintenance is regarded as best for offshore wind turbines, delivering corrective and proactive (i.e. preventive and predictive) maintenance techniques enabling wind turbines to achieve high availability and low cost of energy. Reliability centred maintenance analysis may demonstrate that an accurate and reliable condition monitoring system is one method to increase availability and decrease the cost of energy from wind. In recent years, efforts have been made to develop efficient and cost‐effective condition monitoring techniques for wind turbines. A number of commercial wind turbine monitoring systems are available in the market, most based on existing techniques from other rotating machine industries. Other wind turbine condition monitoring reviews have been published but have not addressed the technical and commercial challenges, in particular, reliability and value for money. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap and present the wind industry with a detailed analysis of the current practical challenges with existing wind turbine condition monitoring technology. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.