11/March/2020                      

The researchers Athanasios J. Kolios (University of Strathclyde) and Ursula Smolka (Ramboll Wind) presented a new study in the RAMS 2020 Conference

According to recent researches related to offshore wind energy installations, 30% of the total costs to keep those plants in good shape are generated by O&M tasks. That is why a research about how to reduce the maintenance costs is a priority to boost wind sector competitiveness.

ROMEO Project, an initiative backed by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, is currently developing advanced technologies with the aim to decrease the O&M costs of the key components and mechanisms of the installations. These new developments are being tested in three different facilities.

Adding crucial information to this project, the researchers Athanasios J. Kolios, from University of Strathclyde, and Ursula Smolka, from Ramboll Wind, have presented a scientific paper with an innovative approach through a risk-based maintenance strategy for offshore wind energy assets.

They research made by two of the partners involved in the consortium of ROMEO is essential to reach the objectives of the initiative. The paper was presented last January in the RAMS 2020 conference, an annual event about the reliability, availability, and maintainability engineering disciplines held in Palm Springs (California).

The method analysed in the document is focused on the evaluation of the risks associated to the critical components of the wind energy facilities in order to create a short list of relevant possible failures that could lead to downtimes. After the identification of the assets to be monitored and the most critical mechanical mistakes, relevant maintenance approaches can be assigned to each of the risks (including corrective, planned and condition-based preventive maintenance).

The study also presents the steps that have to be taken for an optimization of the operational management of offshore wind energy farms.

You can find the complete scientific paper here.