5 Minute Findings

WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings

WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

Five years is often considered as the average length of an OEM initial warranty contract.

Wind turbine installations, peaked five years ago when more than 850 wind turbines were deployed.

WEU’s research has revealed that as many as 100GW of these turbines are coming out of warranty over the next 6 years.

This gives operators the opportunity to reconsider whether working with OEMs is the most cost-effective approach to O&M.

Up to 100GW of wind turbines will soon be out of warranty

Figure 1: What’s the typical length of an O&M contract? (n= 24)

Source: WEU Onshore O&M Survey 2013 – Strategies and Approaches ((n= 121)

2 years 20%

3 years 20%

5 years 30%

10 years 20%

7 years 10%

www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings

WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

More than 50% of operators that participated in WEU’s in-depth survey outsourced turbine O&M to turbine manufacturers (OEM).

In contrast, only 19% of operators rely on OEMs for field O&M.

Most operators prefer OEMs as their turbine O&M provider

Figure 2: Turbine O&M strategies most commonly deployed by operators (n= 24)

Source: WEU Onshore O&M Survey 2013 – Strategies and Approaches (n= 121)

In-House: Own Staff 18%

Outsource: OEM-Continued/Extended Contract 52%

Outsource: Independent Service Provider 15%

Hybrid 15%

www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings

WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

Pros and Cons of outsourcing O&M to turbine manufacturers (OEMs)These are some of the reasons listed by those surveyed to work with OEMs (or not).

PROS

D“Product-specific know-how. OEMs know their own products best”

D“Performance and availability guarantees”

D“Highest availability to carry out work and source spare parts”

D“Support tools”.

CONS

U “OEMs have an incentive to deny or even hide the exact nature of problems”

U “Contractors hired by OEMs to carry out some of the work cover large geographic areas and are less likely to take ownership of the problem”

www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings

WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

Pros and Cons of outsourcing O&M to Independent Service ProvidersThe best and worst aspects of working with ISPs, as expressed by those surveyed

PROS

D“ISPs can work on turbines produced by different manufacturers”

D“Better costs on components sourced from a variety of suppliers (not just OEMs)”

D“More visibility on costs, performance and actual causes of failure”

CONS

U “ISPs can be slower than OEMs at getting access to critical components”

U “ISPs might lack immediate access to important support tools and services”

www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings

WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

Pros and Cons of keeping O&M in-houseHere is a selection of comments on the benefits and challenges of in-house O&M

PROS

D“Full access to data gathered during the O&M process which leads to better knowledge of wind power plant over time”

D“O&M knowledge stays in-house and results in improved overall performance”

D“An operator doesn’t need to go 100% O&M. Non-critical work can always be outsourced”.

CONS

U “In-house O&M entails long-term commitment, both in terms of costs and personnel”

U “Scale is requirement for in-house O&M to make sense. Otherwise, it’s just too expensive”

U “There is a shortage of O&M qualified workers”.

www.windenergyupdate.com

WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

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Exclusive data on failure rates: get access to statistical analysis on failure rates based on 18 years of data collected from more than 12GW of wind turbines

Benchmark against other wind energy operators: find out how operators across the globe are approaching O&M and compare your operations to theirs

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O&M Strategies and Routes to ImprovementFind out which strategy is best suited to your operations. A closer look at: Reactive maintenance; Preventative maintenance; Preventative activities

Component ReliabilityGet the latest data on failure rates, causes, fi nancial impact and solu-tions to help ensure you have a robust O&M strategy in place

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Cost eff ective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014