Commercial Wind Turbine Systems and Applications - Wind Turbine Technology: Fundamental Concepts of Wind Turbine Engineering - page 265

Wind Turbine Operation and Maintenance
Operation and maintenance (O&M) activities include all work necessary to monitor and
control power output and keep the turbines on-line (available to generate electricity whenever
the wind is within the operating range) through scheduled and unscheduled maintenance .
These subjects will be discussed here primarily from the point of view of wind power stations
composed of many turbines. Other O&M activities include contacts with government and
utility personnel, and the public; general facility maintenance ( e.g. , roads and buildings), and
development and implementation of turbine improvements.
Performance Monitoring and Control Activities
Most modern wind power stations use a central control system from which the perfor-
mance and operation of each wind turbine is continuously monitored.
Predicting and Assessing Energy Production
Figure 4-35 shows a flow chart for the most common method of predicting the net an-
nual energy production from a wind power station. The level of uncertainty and the impact
of errors on the final energy prediction are highest for the first step in the process (wind speed
distribution) and decrease to the last step (miscellaneous losses).
Figure 4-35. Flow chart for predicting net annual energy production from a wind power
station.