MS#06.3 Recent Progress on Lifetime Extension, Decommissioning, Repowering and Repurposing of Onshore and Offshore Wind Turbines
A. MALEKJAFARIAN¹, A. KOLIOS², J. SANTOS³
¹ University College Dublin|² Technical University of Denmark|³ Nadara
Reliability, monitoring and sensing, O&M
Wind turbines have a life expectancy of about 20 to 25 years. Currently, about 28% of the European wind power are currently older than 15 years which means that they will soon reach the end of their designed service life. This clearly shows a significant increase in the capacity reaching the end of lifetime within the next 15 years in the onshore sector. Therefore, the wind industry needs to prepare for a significant upcoming challenge where an appropriate decision needs to be made about ageing wind assets. When a turbine is approaching the end of its lifetime, there are three options available: (1) Lifetime extension, (2) Decommissioning and (3) Repowering. This mini symposia is aimed at bringing together experts from both academia and industry to present their latest developments in novel solutions for decision support tools for end-of-life wind turbines.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following aspects:
- Novel techniques to extend the lifetime and reliability of wind turbines.
- Novel techniques to enhance the recyclability and sustainability of wind turbines (including foundations and substructures).
- Emerging solutions for the overall sustainability of wind energy systems.
- Innovative solutions for recycling and/or re-purposing of wind turbine components.