Performance and Reliability of Wind Turbines: A Review

Abstract

Performance (availability and yield) and reliability of wind turbines can make the difference between success and failure of wind farm projects and these factors are vital to decrease the cost of energy. During the last years, several initiatives started to gather data on the performance and reliability of wind turbines on- and offshore and published findings in different journals and conferences. Even though the scopes of the different initiatives are similar, every initiative follows a different approach and results are therefore difficult to compare. The present paper faces this issue, collects results of different initiatives and harmonizes the results. A short description and assessment of every considered data source is provided. To enable this comparison, the existing reliability characteristics are mapped to a system structure according to the Reference Designation System for Power Plants (RDS-PP®). The review shows a wide variation in the performance and reliability metrics of the individual initiatives. Especially the comparison on onshore wind turbines reveals significant differences between the results. Only a few publications are available on offshore wind turbines and the results show an increasing performance and reliability of offshore wind turbines since the first offshore wind farms were erected and monitored.