Opportunistic maintenance for offshore wind

A review and proposal of future framework

Review (2023)
Author(s)

J. McMorland (University of Strathclyde)

M. Collu (University of Strathclyde)

D. McMillan (University of Strathclyde)

James Carroll (University of Strathclyde)

A. Coraddu (TU Delft - Ship Design, Production and Operations)

Research Group
Ship Design, Production and Operations
Copyright
© 2023 J. McMorland, M. Collu, D. McMillan, James Carroll, A. Coraddu
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2023.113571
More Info
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Publication Year
2023
Language
English
Copyright
© 2023 J. McMorland, M. Collu, D. McMillan, James Carroll, A. Coraddu
Research Group
Ship Design, Production and Operations
Volume number
184
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Abstract

As new offshore wind development sites move further from shore and existing sites enter their post-subsidy operating period, it is expected that operational expenditure (OpEx) will increase. In order to overcome these challenges, a more flexible and cost-effective maintenance solution is needed. One such solution is opportunistic maintenance (OM). This work provides an overview of the maintenance strategy used within other industries before providing an in-depth review of the work specific to offshore wind. The existing literature fails to agree on the specific definition of the term. This work proposes an all-encompassing definition of the term, reviewing maintenance ‘opportunities’ and their corresponding ‘action/response’. The review found that maintenance opportunities are either internal or weather-based, with each opportunity having a pre-determined trigger/response. This work proposes the introduction of a market-based opportunity, which has not been previously considered. As offshore wind farms now face increasing curtailment and negative pricing threats, this new OM framework, OM+, view these periods as maintenance opportunities. OM+ also provides a new definition for recording and reporting availability — moving from time/energy-based availability to market-based availability.