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Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary 1

2. Introduction to Wind Energy O&M 3
2.1. Wind Industry Collaboration 4
2.2. Wind Turbine O&M Cost Perspectives 4
2.3. Wind Industry Course Correction 5
2.4. Wind Industry Going Offshore 5

3. Report Methodology 7

4. Component Overview & Historical Wind O&M Data Trends 8
4.1. Wind Turbine Component Overview 9
4.2. Historical Wind O&M Trends 11
4.3. Wind O&M Historical Cost and Reliability Trends 12
4.4. Wind Farm Operator O&M Perspective 14
4.5. Wind Component and Sub-Assembly Failure Overview 15
4.6. Wind Turbine O&M Monitoring Systems 17

5. Wind Energy Update Research Findings and Analysis 19
5.1. Wind O&M Costs: Survey and Interview Results 24

6. Wind O&M Successes and Solutions 31
6.1. General Electric 32
6.2. Suzlon Wind Energy Corp. 33
6.3. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC 34
6.4. Clipper Windpower 35
6.5. Enercon 37
6.6. Nordic Windpower 37

7. Wind Turbine Blades and Gearboxes in Focus 38
7.1. Rotor Blade 39
7.1.1. Blade Design 39
7.1.2. Manufacturing 44
7.1.3. Condition Based Monitoring 45
7.1.4. Failure & Wear Processes 47
7.1.5. Blade Reliability 54
7.2. Gearbox 57
7.2.1. Design 57
7.2.2. Manufacturing 59
7.2.3. Experimentation 60
7.2.4. Failure & Wear Processes 61
7.2.5. Lubrication and Cooling 66
7.2.6. Preventive and Predictive Maintenance 68

8. Offshore O&M Challenges 71
8.1. Meteorological Characteristics 73
8.1.1. Wind Conditions 74
8.1.2. Wave Conditions 74
8.1.3. Seasonality 75
8.2. Wind Park Description 75
8.2.1. Number of Turbines 76
8.2.2. Distance to Shore 77
8.2.3. Grid Integration 77
8.2.4. Crew 78
8.2.5. Access System 78
8.3. Failure Landscape 79
8.3.1. Heavy Component 81
8.3.2. Large Component 81
8.3.3. Small Parts 81
8.3.4. Small/No Parts 81

9. Wind O&M Future Outlook 82
9.1. Barriers to Entry for Component Suppliers 82
9.2. Proactive Versus Reactive O&M Costs and Strategies 83
9.3. Wind O&M Future Trends 85

10. Conclusions 87

11. References 89

Table of Figures
Figure 1 – Failure Rate Evolution 1
Figure 2 – Offshore Wind Supply Chain Map (Scottish Enterprise 2010) 7
Figure 3 – 5MW Wind Turbine Component Capital Costs Breakdown 11
Figure 4 – 5MW Wind Turbine Component Capital Costs Breakdown (Krohn et al. 2009) 10
Figure 5 – O&M Costs for German Turbines (1997-2001)(Krohn et al. 2009) 11
Figure 6 – Historical US Average Annual Wind Turbine O&M Costs (Wiser & Bolinger 2009) 12
Figure 7 – Estimated Wind Turbine O&M Data per Unit of Energy Production for Five Machines Over Time (Poore & Walford 2008) 13
Figure 8 – European O&M Costs for Selected Win Turbine Sizes and Types (Krohn et al. 2009) 14
Figure 9 – Component Failure Rate Evolution or “Bathtub Curve” (Sanchez 2009) 16
Figure 10 – ISET Wind Turbine Component Annual Failure Rate Data and Downtime (Faulstich et al. 2008) 17
Figure 11 – WEU Survey Results for Capacity Factor vs. Wind Plant Terrain Type 22
Figure 12 – Wind Farm Availability versus Year of Operation (Coutinho 2009) 23
Figure 13 – WEU Survey Results for Wind Farm O&M Costs in Dollar 24
Figure 14 – WEU Survey Results for Wind Farm O&M Costs in Euro 24
Figure 15 – Wind Turbine O&M Costs per Unit Energy of Production (Wind Energy Update Survey and LBNL Data) 25
Figure 16 – Component and Sub-Assembly Failure Frequencies (Faulstich et al. 2008) 27
Figure 17 – Component Failure Frequencies 27
Figure 18 – Loss of Energy Production due to Component Failures (Coutinho 2009) 29
Figure 19 – Wind Turbine Manufacturer Market Share in U.S. (American Wind Energy Association 2008) 32
Figure 20 – NextEra Energy Cost Breakdown of Large Component Replacement (Sanchez 2009) 34
Figure 21 – LM Wind Power Rotor Blade Landscape (Thomsen 2004) 40
Figure 22 – Blade Sections of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (Ruud van Rooij 2004) 42
Figure 23 – Shear Web and Spar Cap Concept (Bottasso 2010) 43
Figure 24 – Spar-Box Concept (Bottasso 2010) 43
Figure 25 – Fabric Application at LM Wind Power (Thomsen 2004) 45
Figure 26 – LM Wind Power Blade Condition Monitoring System (Korsgaard 2004) 46
Figure 27 – Trailing Edge Split and Debonding 49
Figure 28 – Bonding Paste Deficiency / Thick Bond Line Resulted in Debonding of the Skin 49
Figure 29 – Broken Leading Edge and Delaminations 51
Figure 30 – Wind Turbine Rotor Blade Transport Jig 51
Figure 31 – Transport damage 52
Figure 32 – Leading Edge Erosion 52
Figure 33 – Lightning damage (Kanaby 2010) 53
Figure 34 – Lightning damage (EWEC 2010) 53
Figure 35 – Blade Root Instrumented Fasteners (Bussieres 2011) 53
Figure 36 – Dirt & Insect Affected Leading Edge(Blade Cleaning n.d.) 55
Figure 37 – Full Length Dirt & Insect Affected Leading Edge(Blade Cleaning n.d.) 55
Figure 38 – (A) Plug/patch and (B) scarf repair systems 57
Figure 39 – GE One-Stage Compound Planetary with One-Stage Parallel Shaft 58
Figure 40 – GE Two-Stage Planetary with One-Stage Parallel Shaft 58
Figure 41 – 2.5MW Wind Turbine Drive Train Dynamometer Test Bed (NREL’s National Wind Technology Center) (ECEN 2060 2011) 60
Figure 42 – Damage to the main bearing. Torsion is the primary cause of failure (Zellman 2009) 62
Figure 43 – Teeth Breakage on Gears (Korbijn 2011) 66
Figure 44 – Teeth Breakage on Gears(Korbijn 2011) 66
Figure 45 – Automatic CMS Mounted Under a 2.5MW Generator (Becker 2008) 68
Figure 46 – Piezoelectric Accelerometers Installed on the Gear (Becker 2008) 70
Figure 47 – Operation and Maintenance Cost and Availability (Kotsonis 2010) 73
Figure 48 – Significant Wave Height and Wind Speed Relationship (Bussel & Bierbooms 2005) 74
Figure 49 – Ship-Based Stabilized Gangway Platform for Offshore Structure Access (Ampelmann 2010) 74
Figure 50 – Overall Availability of an Offshore Wind Farm (Bussel & Bierbooms 2005) 75
Figure 51 – Wind Park Configuration (Van de Pieterman et al. n.d.) 76
Figure 52 – Damage Accumulation (Van de Pieterman et al. n.d.) 76
Figure 53 – Cumulative Distribution Function of the Weather Window (Bussel & Bierbooms 2005) 77
Figure 54 – Offshore Timely Failure Rates (Van de Pieterman et al. n.d.) 80
Figure 55 – Life Cycle Cost: Pro-Active versus Reactive Maintenance (Roeper 2009) 84
Figure 56 – Wind O&M Cost and Forecasted Per Unit of Energy Yield 86
Figure 57 – Average Five-Year O&M Cost Per Turbine (Wiser & Bolinger 2009) 98
Figure 58 – Estimated 20-Year Parts Cost Breakdown for a 60MW Project (Wiser & Bolinger 2009) 98
Figure 59 – 20-Year Turbine O&M Cost Itemization for Various Machine Sizes (Wiser & Bolinger 2009) 99

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