Wind Turbine Gearbox Reliability Assessment: Value of Increased Reliability and Reduced Operations and Maintenance Costs: EPRI Report No. 3002021422

Reliability tracking of wind turbine major systems and components (including blades, pitch, main bearing, gearbox, and generator) is key for future failure rate predictions and operations and maintenance (O&M) optimization. The premature failures of these major systems are one of the primary reasons for a significant increase in O&M costs, turbine downtime, and lost revenue. Wind turbine gearboxes are manufactured by multiple suppliers, resulting in variability and uncertainty in quality and reliability. It is important for operators to know the impact of this variability and unreliability on their O&M costs. To address these industry needs, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) collaborated with wind turbine operators/utilities on reliability data specifications and standards for an industrywide effective reliability analysis. In this report, gearbox reliability, critical components, and the impact of design and operating conditions are discussed in detail. Also, the report includes details on the digitalization of wind assets enabling implementation of reliability tracking, benchmarking, and O&M budget forecasting techniques.