As pressure mounts to provide the world with more sustainable sources of energy, wind power is seen by many as having a critical role in the energy mix. Wind energy is already claimed to be cost-competitive with fossil fuel-based energy generation in some countries, and is forecast to reach parity in many other markets by the end of this decade. O&M has an important part to play in the cost-effectiveness of wind operations. Research for the report shows that the wind energy industry has many opportunities to improve, particularly in terms of collaboration, making better use of available technologies and adopting appropriate O&M strategies: O&M strategies analyzed: find out how predictive, preventative and reactive strategies compare in terms of costs and impact on reliability In-house O&M vs. OEMs vs. Independent service companies: understand the pros and cons of each so you can choose the best option for your wind energy assets Exclusive data on failure rates: get access to statistical analysis on failure rates based on 18 years of data collected from more than 12GW of wind turbines Benchmark against other wind energy operators: find out how operators across the globe are approaching O&M and compare your operations to theirs

1. 5 Minute Findings
WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014
Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield

2. www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings
WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014
Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield
Five years is often considered as the
average length of an OEM initial warranty
contract.
Wind turbine installations, peaked five
years ago when more than 850 wind
turbines were deployed.
WEU’s research has revealed that as many
as 100GW of these turbines are coming
out of warranty over the next 6 years.
This gives operators the opportunity to
reconsider whether working with OEMs is
the most cost-effective approach to O&M.
Up to 100GW of wind turbines will soon be out of warranty
Figure 1: What’s the typical length of an O&M contract? (n= 24)
Source: WEU Onshore O&M Survey 2013 – Strategies and Approaches ((n= 121)
2years20%
3years20%
5years30%
10years20%
7years10%

3. www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings
WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014
Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield
More than 50% of operators that
participated in WEU’s in-depth survey
outsourced turbine O&M to turbine
manufacturers (OEM).
In contrast, only 19% of operators rely on
OEMs for field O&M.
Most operators prefer OEMs as their turbine O&M provider
Figure 2: Turbine O&M strategies most commonly deployed by operators (n= 24)
Source: WEU Onshore O&M Survey 2013 – Strategies and Approaches (n= 121)
In-House:OwnStaff18%
Outsource:OEM-Continued/
ExtendedContract52%
Outsource:Independent
ServiceProvider15%
Hybrid15%

4. www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings
WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014
Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield
Pros and Cons of outsourcing O&M to turbine manufacturers (OEMs)
These are some of the reasons listed by those surveyed to work with OEMs (or not).
PROS
DD“Product-specific know-how. OEMs
know their own products best”
DD“Performance and availability
guarantees”
DD“Highest availability to carry out work
and source spare parts”
DD“Support tools”.
CONS
UU “OEMs have an incentive to deny
or even hide the exact nature of
problems”
UU “Contractors hired by OEMs to carry
out some of the work cover large
geographic areas and are less likely to
take ownership of the problem”

5. www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings
WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014
Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield
Pros and Cons of outsourcing O&M to Independent Service Providers
The best and worst aspects of working with ISPs, as expressed by those surveyed
PROS
DD“ISPs can work on turbines produced
by different manufacturers”
DD“Better costs on components sourced
from a variety of suppliers (not just
OEMs)”
DD“More visibility on costs, performance
and actual causes of failure”
CONS
UU “ISPs can be slower than OEMs at
getting access to critical components”
UU “ISPs might lack immediate access to
important support tools and services”

6. www.windenergyupdate.com 5 Minute Findings
WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014
Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield
Pros and Cons of keeping O&M in-house
Here is a selection of comments on the benefits and challenges of in-house O&M
PROS
DD“Full access to data gathered during
the O&M process which leads to
better knowledge of wind power
plant over time”
DD“O&M knowledge stays in-house
and results in improved overall
performance”
DD“An operator doesn’t need to go 100%
O&M. Non-critical work can always be
outsourced”.
CONS
UU “In-house O&M entails long-term
commitment, both in terms of costs
and personnel”
UU “Scale is requirement for in-house
O&M to make sense. Otherwise, it’s
just too expensive”
UU “There is a shortage of O&M qualified
workers”.

7. www.windenergyupdate.com
WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014
Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize wind energy yield
For more info on:
Exclusive data on failure rates:
get access to statistical analysis
on failure rates based on 18 years
of data collected from more than
12GW of wind turbines
Benchmark against other
wind energy operators:
find out how operators across the
globe are approaching O&M and
compare your operations to theirs
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O&M Strategies and
Routes to Improvement
Find out which strategy is best suited
to your operations. A closer look at:
Reactive maintenance; Preventative
maintenance; Preventative activities
Component Reliability
Get the latest data on failure rates,
causes, financial impact and solu-
tions to help ensure you have a
robust O&M strategy in place
Benchmarking
Operations
Gain industry insight on how opera-
tors across the globe are approach-
ing O&M to compare and bench-
mark your operations
Cost effective O&M strategies to minimize downtime and maximize
wind energy yield
WEU Onshore O&M Report 2014