New Tendencies in Wind Energy Operation and Maintenance

Ángel M Costa,Diego Vergara,José A Orosa,Pablo Fernández-Arias

doi:10.3390/app11041386

Ángel M Costa, Diego Vergara + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041386

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Abstract

Both the reduction in operating and maintenance (O&M) costs and improved reliability have become top priorities in wind turbine maintenance strategies. O&M costs typically account for 20% to 25% of the total levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of current wind power systems. This paper provides a general review of the state of the art of research conducted on wind farm maintenance in recent years. It shows the new methods and techniques, focusing on trends and future challenges. In addition to this, this work includes a review of the following items: (i) operation and maintenance, (ii) failure rate, (iii) reliability, (iv) condition monitoring, (v) maintenance strategies, (vi) maintenance and life cycle and (vii) maintenance optimization As for offshore wind turbines, it is crucial to limit the maximum faults, since the maintenance of these wind farms is more complex both technically and logistically. Research into wind farm maintenance increased by 87% between 2007 and 2019, with more than 38,000 papers (Scopus) including “wind energy” as the main topic and some keywords related to O&M costs. The LCOE in onshore wind projects has decreased by 45%, while in offshore projects it has decreased by 28%. The O&M costs of onshore wind projects fell 52%, while in the case of offshore projects, they have declined 45%. Thus, the results obtained in this paper suggest that there is a change in research on wind farm operation and maintenance, as in recent years, scientific interest in failure has been increasing, while interest in the various techniques of wind farm maintenance and operation has been decreasing.

Highlights

Renewable energies have become the greatest ally for the generation of electrical energy worldwide that is free of CO2 emissions
Research into wind farm maintenance increased by 87% between 2007 and 2019, so the Scopus database contains over 38,000 articles including wind energy as the main topic and some of the keywords related to Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs
There is a trend towards a change in research on the operation and maintenance of wind farms, as in recent years, scientific interest is increasing towards failure analysis, while interest in the different techniques for the maintenance and operation of wind farms is decreasing

Summary

Introduction

Renewable energies have become the greatest ally for the generation of electrical energy worldwide that is free of CO2 emissions. Taking into account that hydroelectric technology was developed throughout the 20th century, wind power is, among the current technologies for generating electrical energy from renewable sources, the most widely implemented renewable energy around the world. A simple query in Scopus on the number of articles including “wind energy” in the title, abstract or keywords (Table 1) shows that there are more than 28,000 articles in the Scopus database going back to 2008 (data collected in November 2020). This result means an average annual scientific production related to wind energy of more than 2000 articles (Scopus)

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