Maintenance modeling and optimization for wind turbine systems: A review

Wind power is a clean and sustainable energy resource to meet the growing electricity needs in the next 20-30 years. However operation and maintenance (O&M) of wind power systems counts for as much as 25-30% of the total energy production cost, which creates intensive interests in lowering the lifecycle costs. This paper reviews the maintenance methodologies recently developed for wind power industry. The review aims at surveying recent reliability analysis and maintenance models underpinning the decision on equipment inspection, repair and replacement. We also discuss the applications and limitations of these models. Based on the review some future research areas are proposed.