Offshore wind farms are a rapidly developing source of clean, low-carbon energy and
as they continue to grow in scale and capacity, so does the requirement for their efficient and
optimised operation and maintenance. Historically, approaches to maintenance have been purely
reactive. However, there is a movement in offshore wind, ...
Offshore wind farms are a rapidly developing source of clean, low-carbon energy and
as they continue to grow in scale and capacity, so does the requirement for their efficient and
optimised operation and maintenance. Historically, approaches to maintenance have been purely
reactive. However, there is a movement in offshore wind, and wider industry in general, towards
more proactive, condition based maintenance approaches which rely on operational data-driven
decision making. This paper reviews the current efforts in proactive maintenance strategies, both
predictive and prescriptive, of which the latter is an evolution of the former. Both use operational
data to determine whether a turbine component will fail in order to provide sufficient warning
to carry out necessary maintenance. Prescriptive strategies also provide optimised maintenance
actions, incorporating predictions into a wider maintenance plan to address predicted failure
modes. Beginning with a summary of common techniques used across both strategies, the review
moves on to discuss their respective applications in offshore wind operation and maintenance. The
review concludes with suggested areas for future work, underlining the need for models which
can be simply incorporated by site operators and integrate live data whilst handling uncertainties.
A need for further focus on medium term planning strategies is also highlighted along with
consideration of the question of how to quantify the impact of a proactive maintenance strategy.
