Quantitative Modelling to Estimate Offshore Wind Farm Maintenance Costs

The project will investigate the major contributors to cost of operation and maintenance (O&M). This will be achieved via literature review and quantitative modeling, making use of publically available reliability, downtime and turbine component cost data. Particularly important in the offshore case is the cost of crane vessels and specialized labour, since these are both currently at a premium and likely to push up the economic risk of large offshore projects. Consideration will also have to be given to sea state and resultant knock on effect on access constraints and logistics.