With oil prices going down and Power Purchase Agreements being influenced, it is now more important than ever to minimise downtime and secure the operation of wind farms in order to stay profitable and ensure continuity in operation. We are delighted to welcome back industry expert, Christian Holmgaard of WTG Partners, with his take on reducing the Cost Of Ownership…
The worst scenario for an operator/owner of a wind turbine or wind farm is a breakdown of the plant or the need for unscheduled maintenance – especially if the breakdown happens in high wind seasons and when there is need for external equipment to rectify the failure (for example a crane and trucks) and a bad situation becomes worse.
Typically, operators will try to plan all the repairs and upgrades for low wind seasons. Not only does it help generate more power it also means that you can forecast your expenses and that you can plan costly equipment rentals and contractors well in advance of your need. This is an effective way of optimising your cost structure, but the trick is to know what to do and when to do it. A technological crystal ball would be helpful but as they are in short supply, long-term maintenance strategies and systematic trending and recording of health parameters will provide some insight to this as well.
We have inspected thousands of turbines for owners, insurance companies and others where it has been clear that a strict and systematic inspections scheme could have prevented failures or helped to plan the needed services and repairs in due time. This would have reduced the production loses and minimised the service and repair costs.
The most frequent breakdown and most expensive components to repair in the wind turbines are the drivetrain (main bearing, main shaft and gearbox) and the rotor including hub and pitch mechanism.
