Maintenance strategies for deep sea offshore wind turbines

Abstract

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to outline a framework that guides the development of sound maintenance strategies and policies for deep‐sea offshore wind turbines.

Design/methodology/approach – An important challenge with offshore wind energy production is to reduce the high operation and maintenance costs. To decrease complexity, and structure the maintenance strategy developing process, systems engineering principles are used.

Findings – The framework facilitates integration of fragmented but valuable information from different disciplines in the development of sound maintenance strategies. In addition, the framework may be used to identify knowledge gaps, and areas for further research.

Research limitations/implications – The paper refers to research on deep‐sea offshore wind turbines, which is in its infancy, with a limited amount of data yet available for verification and validation. Deep‐sea offshore installations are not commercialized, and few pilot installations have been installed.

Originality/value – The design of the offshore wind turbines determines operation and maintenance features. Reducing operation and maintenance costs is necessary to make deep‐sea offshore wind projects viable in the first place. The framework contributes to the complicated development of maintenance strategies for a system not yet realized.