Wind energy hits major new high, now we must improve Operations and Maintenance

The falling price of wind energy coupled with the rising price of fossil fuels means onshore wind farms are now Britain’s most cost-effective way of producing energy. According to John Coultate, Head of Condition Monitoring and EU Sales at Romax Technology, to ensure this trend continues the industry must continue to improve its Operations and Maintenance (O&M) strategies and not to slow down investment.

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), wind power is now the cheapest electricity to produce in both Germany and the UK, even without government subsidies, and new onshore wind farms cost as much as £20 less per megawatt hour (MWh) than coal or gas fired plants. The cost of energy from wind is estimated to have fallen to £55 ($85) per megawatt hour compared to the current costs of about £75 ($115) per megawatt hour for coal or gas-fired plants.

Coultate welcomes these findings but explains that this positive picture for renewable technology seems out of step with current government incentives and subsidies, particularly for onshore wind power. Looking to the future, in order to sustain low costs, it is important that turbines, in both on and offshore markets, operate at low cost and high availability. Improving O&M strategies will be key to improving turbine life and driving cost efficiencies.

“The findings from the report will go a long way to addressing previous misconceptions surrounding wind energy as an expensive technology compared to energy from fossil fuels. However, to ensure that wind power remains a commercially viable energy source, continued innovation is key. Manufacturers must ensure the longevity of the wind farms by keeping faults to a minimum.

“For instance, over 75 per cent of lifetime expenditure across wind farms can be put down to operations and maintenance. This represents a huge investment and it is therefore imperative that proactive steps are taken to drive down costs to generate cost savings,” he continued.

Coultate believes that through predictive maintenance, wind farm operators have the ideal tool to maximise efficiency, while also reducing costs.

“An effective predictive maintenance strategy can minimise the impact that turbine failure and downtime can have on your fleet, and prolong the lifecycle of a turbine, as the engineer is able to pre-empt the replacement of damaged parts before a failure occurs. With this approach, significant cost savings can be made.”

Coultate concluded: “The wind energy industry is becoming more and more prominent in light of increasing cost efficiencies, as demonstrated by these figures. However, this shouldn’t be seen as an invitation for providers to rest on their laurels.  A lot of work still needs to be done to ensure that costs continue to fall.”