Toward farm-level health management of wind turbine systems: status and scope for improvements

An outline of health management for OWFs has been detailed in this chapter with description of various important elements. The need for such farm level management is explained and benefits are discussed. Key gaps to be filled in order to realize such a system are identified. The proposed health management system is mainly based on the existing knowledge of fleet-level management in the aerospace sector. Health management is much broader than CM; there are a number of aspects beyond the prognostics capabilities that are to be designed in order to arrive at a comprehensive maintenance management scheme. A comprehensive maintenance program that is sensitive to the health of the assets and adapts maintenance schedule accordingly, depending upon resource availability, logistics and inventory, is key to cost optimization while ensuring reliability and availability. The advances in CM and diagnostics in wind energy are in the right direction, and many of them are building blocks for health management. Offshore wind faces a number of unique challenges that can be satisfactorily addressed by following a suitable systematic approach. RCM implementation appears to be the most suitable as it encompasses other maintenance strategies and is suitable for farm-level deployment.