How Often Do Wind Turbines Need Maintenance – Whether you’re planning to install a few windmills on your property or intend to build a wind farm, there are a few windmill maintenance questions you’ll need to address.
For example, how often do wind turbines require maintenance and how much work do they do? Along with calculating installation costs and return-on-investment, these are some of the top questions you need to answer before proceeding.
How Often Do Wind Turbines Need Maintenance
It is worth noting that wind turbines last about 20 years, which is less than solar panels. However, wind turbines continue to operate after dark and can be placed in areas where solar gain is negligible. Consequently, before starting any windmill operation or maintenance plan, it is important to review the details and crunch the numbers.
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So, do wind turbines require a lot of maintenance? It depends on who you ask and whether they do proactive or reactive maintenance. However, the general rule of thumb is to perform maintenance every four to six months. Failure to do this is why you often see wind turbines stall during high winds. To prevent this massive failure and waste of wind power, consider the following maintenance factors.
As with all mechanical parts or machines, the best way to prevent costly repairs or component failures is to perform predictive maintenance. To accomplish this, companies rely on complex calculations performed by computer systems. These determine when wind turbines require maintenance and can even identify what the potential consequences of delays might be.
To do this, active windmill farm operators place sensors at the key locations of wind turbines. These sensors transmit data to computer systems for analysis and prediction. The data collected generally covers the following areas:
For predictive maintenance to work well, you also need preventive maintenance. It works similarly to preventive maintenance on vehicles, such as oil changes and tire rotations. As with cars, the more regularly you complete predictive maintenance, the less likely predictive sensors are to lose key data and the less likely turbines are to fail.
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All maintenance intervals for wind turbines and their components are included. These can range from biennial maintenance to tasks you need to complete after several years. Consider these possible tasks:
Whether you need to complete predictive maintenance, preventive maintenance or repair, it probably starts with an inspection. The best wind farms are so active that workers complete regular checks, from daily to quarterly. These routine checks make it easy to spot and deal with irregularities. Inspections may also be necessary to diagnose the problem.
When people think of wind turbine problems, they tend to think of possible parts failure. But the biggest problem with maintenance is the budget. While maintenance can be expensive, repairs are even more expensive, so plan accordingly. These are common mechanical problems wind turbines can experience:
As far as specific parts that break most often, wind experts name bearings, stator wedges, and rotors. Cooling system failures seem to occur much less frequently than other named problems.
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According to a report published by the US Department of Energy, windmill maintenance accounts for 10% to 20% of total windmill operation costs. However, you need to look beyond that to get a better picture of wind energy costs and return on investment.
Installation costs vary widely based on economies of scale. The more wind turbines are installed, the more companies will ultimately save. Prices have also fallen rapidly over the years. The Department of Energy shares that in 2008, the cost per kilowatt to install a wind turbine was $1,800, and now it costs $770 to $850 per kilowatt.
People often question the efficiency of wind turbines. They, often, seem to be sitting quite still. However, DOE estimates that health, climate, and energy benefits from wind projects in 2020 average $76 per megawatt-hour. The benefits, therefore, far outweigh the short-term costs.
Companies get tax benefits for wind installations. This significantly reduces installation and operation costs. Companies may see a 10% to 20% difference in costs after tax credits. However, these benefits will diminish over time, making maintenance and operation cost management more important.
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Companies can significantly reduce maintenance costs by purchasing wind turbines with high reliability ratings. DOE believes that the biggest determining factor for reliability comes down to the specific machine chosen, so choose wisely. However, the report did not recommend specific brands or models. It also observes the importance of environmental factors.
Are your employees already proficient in wind farm management, or do they need additional training? Each company should provide its own training program. Beyond the basic hard skills of demonstrating competence, employees may need training on climate change, diversity issues, ethics, company culture, company procedures, and other key topics.
Wind farms generate a lot of data and require regular inspections. Completing these inspections and tracking data requires strong organizational skills and technology support. Companies can use digital checklists and apps to generate real-time inspection data and compare it to predictive data from the turbine’s sensors. Going digital makes it easier to track expenses, tax benefits and overall return on investment.
, we are proud to be one of the best data collection apps in the world. Not only do we help your employees enter data, we also provide a central dashboard for analysis and decision making. Local wind farm or a large enterprise, we can improve workflow, increase data accuracy and automate tasks on your site. Globecore offers CMM-G and CMM-GL units that drain gearbox oil and fill gearbox oil and clean gearboxes in wind turbines. These units facilitate quick service and can be used with wind turbines made by various manufacturers.
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The last decade has seen strong growth in the wind industry. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, the overall installed capacity of wind turbines worldwide at the beginning of 2018 was 539 GW. This means that all turbines installed cover more than five percent of global electricity demand. There is a clear demand for a clean, renewable energy source and reduction of harmful emissions.
Such successful wind development is possible, in part, through continuous improvement and growth in turbine equipment and component design. Engineers have had to keep up with the demands of increased wind-turbine sizes and power outputs, which means advances in handling and reliability of key turbine components such as gearboxes.
Although there are several uses for gearboxes in wind turbines—including yaw-drive gearboxes that position the nacelle relative to the wind direction and pitch drives that adjust the blade angle of attack—the main gearbox has received critical attention from engineers. It is designed to make the slow, high-torque rotation of the generator spin faster. And some of these machines make it past the 10-year mark.
Today’s geared turbines typically consist of a three-stage gearbox with one low-speed planetary stage and two parallel stages. Engineers use planetary gears to design gearboxes that are durable enough to withstand harsh loading conditions and small enough to fit into a nacelle.
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The harsh conditions typical of wind-farm operation can take a toll on the turbine and its components. Factors that can adversely affect the main gearbox include variations in wind speed and direction, temperature, vibration and moisture ingress. These factors make the gearbox a weak component of the turbine drivetrain.
Problems that occur in gearboxes include surface damage such as scuffing and micropitting. Cracks on gear surfaces can also cause pitting or tooth-root breakage and possible bearing failure. Micropitting is the starting point in a chain of destructive events that, if left unchecked, can lead to broken teeth and the need to replace gears. In addition to continuously varying load pressures, micropitting is also caused by insufficient lubricant film thickness, incorrect lubricant viscosity and foaming.
Gearbox maintenance and replacement costs — including turbine downtime costs for O&M and repairs — are a significant portion of wind farm operating losses. Gearbox oil condition in wind turbines is an important factor in saving these costs.
The main purpose of gearbox oil is to reduce friction. However, it also keeps the gearbox clean and protects metal surfaces from corrosion. A higher quality oil or lubricant usually means a more reliable gearbox.
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Synthetic oils have a reputation for improved performance compared to conventional mineral-based oils. For example, synthetics have a lower pour point than mineral oil, allowing the gearbox to operate more efficiently at colder ambient temperatures. Synthetic oils also have a higher viscosity index – their viscosity changes less with temperature than mineral oils.
A well-lubricated gearbox is critical to reliable wind-turbine operation. For ideal gearbox health, choose gear oil that offers anti-foam properties and is blended with a balanced formulation. This means that if additives are included in the water and wear resistance formula. (Source: Globalcore)
Deterioration of gearbox oil is associated with oxidation due to heat, contamination and additive fatigue. Water is the most troublesome of pollutants. Although particulate matter and sludge can be filtered,
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