Monitoring systems for wind generators maintenance

Wind energy is the renewable energy source with a higher growing rate in the last decades and can be considered a hope in the future as a clean and sustainable energy. With the huge proliferation of wind farms, as an alternative to the traditional fossil power generation, the economic issues dictate the necessity of monitoring systems to optimize availability and profits. Tools to detect the onset of mechanical faults in wind turbines at a sufficiently early stage are very important for maintenance actions to be well planned, because these actions can reduce the outage time and can prevent bigger faults that may lead to machine stoppage.