Risk-based Maintenance Strategies for Offshore Wind Energy Assets

This paper documents the development of an integrated approach for the development of effective maintenance strategies for offshore wind energy assets, based on a risk-based approach. The method starts from a high fidelity risk assessment of each category of critical components, leading to a shortlist of critical risks which are then associated with relevant failure mechanisms which can be studied further, so as to qualify appropriate features to be monitored through assigned inspection and monitoring practices. Then, relevant maintenance approaches can be assigned to each of the critical risks (including corrective, planned and condition-based preventive maintenance), following a structured decision tree. This approach can support decisions for a selected strategy towards optimizing operational management and reducing OPEX costs.