Maintenance optimization and inspection planning of wind energy assets: Models, methods and strategies

• Published in: Reliability engineering & system safety Vol. 192; p. 105993
• Main Authors: Shafiee, Mahmood, Sørensen, John Dalsgaard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Barking Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Asset management; Contractors; Electric cables; Electrical transmission; Energy; Energy industry; Failure modes; Inspection; Maintenance; Manpower; Optimization; Power cables; Reliability; Reliability engineering; Repair; Researchers; Resource availability; Spare parts; Substations; Turbines; Weather; Wind energy; Wind farms; Wind power; Wind power generation; Wind energy; Inspection; Asset management; Maintenance; Repair; Reliability; Optimization
• ISSN: 0951-8320; 1879-0836
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2017.10.025

•A classification framework for the study of maintenance policy optimization and inspection planning in wind energy industry.•To identify models, methods and strategies used to optimize maintenance decisions and inspection procedures for various wind energy assets (turbines, foundations, cables, electrical substations, etc.).•A systematic review of the literature over the past two decades (1997–2016).•Identify critical observations on each category of classification.•Suggest directions of potential interest to operational researchers. Designing cost-effective inspection and maintenance programmes for wind energy farms is a complex task involving a high degree of uncertainty due to diversity of assets and their corresponding damage mechanisms and failure modes, weather-dependent transport conditions, unpredictable spare parts demand, insufficient space or poor accessibility for maintenance and repair, limited availability of resources in terms of equipment and skilled manpower, etc. In recent years, maintenance optimization has attracted the attention of many researchers and practitioners from various sectors of the wind energy industry, including manufacturers, component suppliers, maintenance contractors and others. In this paper, we propose a conceptual classification framework for the available literature on maintenance policy optimization and inspection planning of wind energy systems and structures (turbines, foundations, power cables and electrical substations). The developed framework addresses a wide range of theoretical and practical issues, including the models, methods, and the strategies employed to optimise maintenance decisions and inspection procedures in wind farms. The literature published to date on the subject of this article is critically reviewed and several research gaps are identified. Moreover, the available studies are systematically classified using different criteria and some research directions of potential interest to operational researchers are highlighted.