Asset management strategies for wind turbines: Keeping or retrofitting existing wind turbines?

Abstract

In this study, a parallel replacement problem with retrofitting (PRP-R) model is proposed to determine the trade-off between retrofitting and replacing an asset. The primary objective is to identify the replacement, maintenance and retrofitting schedule that optimise purchasing new assets, operation and maintenance (O&M) cost, and retrofitting cost under budget and production constraints resulting in a mixed-integer linear programming formulation. This model is applied to a case study of energy industry involving wind turbines (WTs). Results show that due to a lower O&M cost, retrofitting is less costly than keeping the WTs. In addition, the effects of key parameters such as O&M cost, retrofitting cost, budget allocated for retrofitting and governmental subsidy on the optimal replacement policy on total cost are studied. This research contributes a model that can be used to determine if WT retrofitting is economically justified and provides a rigorous analytical framework for optimising the decision-making process over the wind farm life cycle.