MS#06.2 How does the way we operate wind turbines affect loads and lifetime?

L. ZIEGLER¹, W. WEIJTJENS²
¹ EnBW|² OWI-Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Reliability, monitoring and sensing, O&M

Both on- and offshore wind farm operators face the challenge to optimise the operation of existing assets for profitability. For the past decades, the standard operational strategy was to maximise turbine availability and energy production incentivised by governmental subsidies of fixed feed-in tariffs. Nowadays, wind farm operation becomes more flexible in the context of subsidy-free operation and high volatility of marked prices. This flexibility may result in more frequent curtailment (low/ negative market prices, grid overload) or auxiliary services. On the other hand, several approaches to raise energy production through adaption of turbine and park control exist (power curve increase, wake steering, etc.). All these changes in operational regimes affect component loading and the lifetime of wind turbines in ways that may not have been considered in the original design.

The aim of this mini-symposium is to bring together the latest R&D on data-driven assessments of the effect of these new operational regimes on the loads and lifetime of various wind turbine components, including blades, drivetrain and/or the substructure. Contributors are invited to present and discuss results obtained from (load) measurement campaigns of both on- and offshore wind turbines with a focus on the impact of operational regimes, such as events, curtailment, downtime, control-adaption, etc. Research focused on energy production or based solely on simulations is out of scope of this mini-symposium.