With the marine environment making access to turbines expensive and time-consuming at best — and preventing it for weeks at a time at worst — there is an urgency to improve O&M services and to reduce their cost, which in turn will bring down the cost of offshore wind energy.
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Spotlight on service: costs must fall
Is enough being done to lower offshore wind's O&M costs? We explore how long-term service contracts with turbine suppliers could be hindering progress towards cost-effectiveness by preventing independent service companies from entering the market
Clever concept: How Areva's wind service model adapts to varying offshore demands
Areva Wind offers a range of service packages depending typically on the wind farm's distance to shore and the number of turbines deployed
Rhyl Flats: meeting the O&M challenge
What can be learned from the experience of Siemens and RWE npower renewables' joint effort of setting up and running Rhyl Flats offshore wind farm? Collaborative working to optimise operations and maintenance has certainly borne fruit
Vessel design starts to catch up with demand
With offshore projects coming online in deeper waters, the impact of maintenance costs will inevitably grow. The availability of service vessels will be even more crucial and demand for boats built to operate in harsh marine conditions will be more acute
Choosing a chopper
Helicopters' O&M role will grow as projects go further offshore and have a large number of turbines to service. The promise of Round 3 is making the industry a good long-term prospect for helicopter operators
