Wind Turbine Condition Monitoring: State-of-the-Art Review, New Trends, and Future Challenges

TLDR

Wind energy demand is rising rapidly, making it essential to lower operation and maintenance costs and boost turbine reliability, which drives the development of advanced turbine designs and cost‑effective condition‑monitoring techniques. This paper reviews and classifies wind turbine condition monitoring methods, focusing on emerging trends and future challenges. The authors survey relevant condition monitoring, diagnosis, and maintenance analysis techniques, linking them to underlying theories and industry practices. The review identifies strengths and weaknesses in current WTCM practices and proposes research priorities to address technological evolution and market growth.

Abstract

As the demand for wind energy continues to grow at exponential rates, reducing operation and maintenance (OM) costs and improving reliability have become top priorities in wind turbine (WT) maintenance strategies. In addition to the development of more highly evolved WT designs intended to improve availability, the application of reliable and cost-effective condition-monitoring (CM) techniques offers an efficient approach to achieve this goal. This paper provides a general review and classification of wind turbine condition monitoring (WTCM) methods and techniques with a focus on trends and future challenges. After highlighting the relevant CM, diagnosis, and maintenance analysis, this work outlines the relationship between these concepts and related theories, and examines new trends and future challenges in the WTCM industry. Interesting insights from this research are used to point out strengths and weaknesses in today’s WTCM industry and define research priorities needed for the industry to meet the challenges in wind industry technological evolution and market growth.