Australia’s thriving wind industry has the potential to save millions of dollars and significantly reduce CO2 emissions by embracing turbine life-extension technology, writes Hiren Limbachiya, regional manager, Australia and New Zealand, ONYX Insight.
Australia’s wind sector is in the midst of a significant boom. Within the past decade, wind energy has undergone an astonishing metamorphosis. What was once a nascent industry, typified by a combination of hope and expectation, has emerged as an authentic and potent contributor to Australia’s energy mix.
By 2020, wind accounted for 36 per cent of all clean energy produced in Australia, equivalent to 10 per cent of energy from all available sources. By the end of 2022, installed capacity in Australia is expected to have more than doubled within the past half-decade to approximately 15GW.
These figures don’t account for the phenomenal potential for offshore installations. A total of five projects are already planned – four on Australia’s east coast and one on the west coast. With continued government backing, and a surge in domestic and international project investment, the market is primed to take off in ways previously unimaginable.
According to a recent market outlook from Rystad Energy, there is approximately 100GW of offshore and onshore wind at the concept stage in Australia, with around 30GW of onshore wind either under construction, in planning or approaching financial close.
But the excitement and optimism of today must not foreshadow the careful consideration of future opportunities. By planning ahead, Australian wind farm owners and operators stand to save tens of millions of dollars during the coming decades by incorporating life-extension strategies into their operations and maintenance processes.
Life extension from day one
In the rush to install wind turbines, it seems inconceivable to not consider ways to get these valuable assets to remain productive and profitable for as long as technically possible. Turbines of all ages stand to benefit from this approach, boosting lifetime project value by up to 12 per cent and extending turbine design life.
Predictive maintenance strategies are central to prolonging a turbine’s useful life. They substantially drive down future operational costs and enhance the sustainability of wind farms by bringing crucial data and informed engineering expertise to the table. This is particularly the case for offshore wind farms where operations and maintenance (O&M) intervention costs are higher.
Owners and operators are in a prime position to futureproof their margins now by ensuring turbines are ultraefficient and producing low-cost power, using advanced sensing tools to avoid unforeseen component failures and asset downtime.
By eradicating uncertainty around crucial maintenance decisions, advanced monitoring technology is reimagining the economics of life extension, delivering years of additional revenue for asset owners at an affordable cost. By putting in place a data-driven life extension strategy as the turbine lifecycle begins – not at the end of the warranty period – owners and operators stand to maximise the benefits.
The inescapable case for ageing assets
Such solutions are not just for turbines fresh in the ground. Most of those erected during the pioneering phase of Australia’s wind sector are now in need of either repowering, decommissioning or life extension before issues of reliability and productivity become insurmountable. Globally, more than 15 per cent of wind projects will reach the 15 to 20-year-old bracket in 2022.
A supplementary benefit of turbine life extension is the avoidance of numerous adverse environmental impacts associated with decommissioning. Advances in digital tools represent an opportunity to enhance the sustainability of wind farms, with less construction, fewer replacements of carbon-hungry steel components, and less demand for rare earth metals. Avoiding this type of gratuitous waste represents an unmissable moment for businesses to push towards wider environmental, social and governance (ESG) ambitions.
Investor appeal
Australia has the pedal to the floor when it comes to transitioning away from fossil fuels. The nation’s wind industry has been on a steady trajectory since the Salmon Beach Wind Farm, near Esperance in Western Australia, began operating in the late 1980s. We are on the cusp of development at real scale, which presents multiple opportunities that would guarantee the sector is at the forefront of the clean energy revolution.
Successfully extending the life of a project can mean reducing the cost of long-term operations as the project ages. Operators need data to calculate risk levels and projected maintenance costs, allowing them to confidently assign budgets and justify key choices to investors.
The incentive for owner-operators to extend asset life is already in place. A turbine pays for itself in the first 10 to 15 years of its life. Selling electricity produced after this, once O&M costs are considered, represents pure profit. Recent figures show the greatest factor affecting the value of a project is the ability to extend life – the difference between running assets for 25 years versus 20 years is huge. Looking to the future, imagine the impact a 40-year lifespan could deliver.
Extending the wind lifecycle make sense
The capability to produce additional energy from a wind farm offers a tantalising stream of revenue. There are also significant benefits gained from reducing waste through digitalisation during the lifecycle of a wind fleet, and the chance to significantly enhance the environmental impact of wind farms by being savvy with maintenance operations to ensure more responsible use of materials.
There is no doubt extending the life of a project using predictive maintenance represents a major opportunity for wind farm owner-operators in Australia. The key message is to not wait. Implementing these strategies earlier in the operations and maintenance program holds the key to maximising Australia’s wind potential.