Current Status and Future Trends in the Operation and Maintenance of Offshore Wind Turbines: A Review

Abstract

Operation and maintenance constitute a substantial share of the lifecycle expenditures of an offshore renewable energy farm. A noteworthy number of methods and techniques have been developed to provide decision-making support in strategic planning and asset management. Condition monitoring instrumentation is commonly used, especially in offshore wind farms, due to the benefits it provides in terms of fault identification and performance evaluation and improvement. Incorporating technology advancements, a shift towards automation and digitalisation is taking place in the offshore maintenance sector. This paper reviews the existing literature and novel approaches in the operation and maintenance planning and the condition monitoring of offshore renewable energy farms, with an emphasis on the offshore wind sector, discussing their benefits and limitations. The state-of-the-art in industrial condition-based maintenance is reviewed, together with deterioration models and fault diagnosis and prognosis techniques. Future scenarios in robotics, artificial intelligence and data processing are investigated. The application challenges of these strategies and Industry 4.0 concepts in the offshore renewables sector are scrutinised, together with the potential implications of early-stage project integration. The identified technologies are ranked against a series of indicators, providing a reference for a range of industry stakeholders.