Preactive Maintenance—A Modernized Approach for Efficient Operation of Offshore Wind Turbines

Abstract

Operation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines (OWTs) play an important role to guaranty and improve the reliability, availability, and sustainability during the life time of an OWT. Common maintenance approaches from reactive to preventive maintenance show difficulties in being applied throughout offshore wind park operations. In the field of preventive maintenance, the condition-based maintenance shows a significant upturn. This paper gives a valuable insight into a modernized approach to “preactive” measures in different dimensions. To this end, existing approaches for condition-based maintenance are pointed out. Based on this knowledge, a new approach, using existing information and knowledge to encounter relevant events, is introduced. A maintenance strategy by context enables a dynamical adjustment of maintenance time slots based on different information, like, for example, weather, the general condition of a wind turbine, and availability of staff. Finally, the concept will be illustrated with an example.