Tatiana M. Delorm1, Yizhou Lu2, Aristos Christou1,2, and Patrick McCluskey2,
1 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
2 CALCE, Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20740, USA
Abstract:
Wind energy is an expanding renewable source of
power being implemented globally. Although initially
offshore wind farms were developed in shallow waters,
the present projects around the world are being
installed or are being planned in deeper waters, further
from the shore. The value of deep water implementation
is the availability of higher wind speeds, improving
power output capacity factor and improved capital
returns.1 Offshore wind turbines (OWTs) installed at
beneficial marine sites must be designed for a life span
of 20–25 years and endure severe environmental conditions,
posing considerable limits on their accessibility
and maintainability. The complex mechanical and electrical
control systems are an integral part of an OWT,
and to achieve the necessary reliability and availability
goals for offshore wind farm developers has become a
challenging problem. Since the deployment of the first
offshore wind farm in Denmark in 1991, more than
20 different OWT designs have seen operation in the
offshore environment. However, no operational failure
rate information is yet available from these machines in
the public domain. The lack of reliability prediction
data makes selection of a specific OWT technology for
offshore wind farm developers risky and may impact
on the global acceptance of OWTs.
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