FEATURE SPONSOR ONSHORE OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE
EUROPEAN CHALLENGES The wind industry in Europe has faced a number of challenges when it comes to developing energy profitably and at a cost which is competitive to other energy sectors. Downward trends in market support, less attractive incentive mechanisms and policy uncertainty for onshore projects post-2018 have played a key part in this, and this is coupled with the rising cost of land acquisition, development and operations.
However, there is significant construction activity planned over the next few years – at the end of last year there was 2GW of onshore wind under construction. There is a danger that this could mean increased pressure to complete projects before deadlines, such as working through the winter months, which could increase exposure to more challenging and hazardous working environments.
ADDED PRESSURES
Whilst the health and safety of site teams will always remain the paramount concern for operators, these added pressures mean the industry also has to focus closely on maximising the operational output and efficiency of onshore projects, to ensure the sector can continue to thrive.
WINDFARM MAINTENANCE Maintenance is a key part of operations where planning and accurate forecasting can play a huge role in increasing efficiency and helping the sector in achieving this goal. When sites are under warranty, they often have no say in when maintenance takes place, which can be problematic – leading in some cases to downtime during optimum energy-generating conditions.
Furthermore, the maintenance can also be scheduled for periods where the weather turns out to be unsuitable – meaning important repair work cannot happen. This can in some cases mean that equipment brought on site for specific maintenance tasks, such as specialist cranes that are extremely expensive to hire, cannot be used. This is all very frustrating for operators and costly for the industry.
However, as the industry is maturing, it’s beginning to reach a turning point where sites are coming out of their warranty period and operators can conduct, and therefore schedule, their own maintenance. This allows them to circumvent the two issues mentioned above and schedule maintenance for times when the energy yield would normally be low, and/or when the weather conditions are more likely to allow the maintenance to take place.
The benefits in efficiency associated with self-planning maintenance can be so significant to an operator that they may even buy themselves out of their warranty period.
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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