Managing the wind

Manpower, transport, parts and downtime due to a mechanical fault can have a depressing effect on kilowatt-hour costs for a wind turbine, possibly even tipping that machine into the red. Yet a technology exists that can prevent much of the pain. So much so that insurers are insisting on it, especially for large offshore machines. Condition monitoring, which has proved its worth in other critical applications - traditional power generation and aviation for instance - is now being adopted by the wind energy sector.