Lowering failure rates and improving serviceability in offshore wind conversion-collection systems

Reliability and maintenance are key concerns for offshore wind farms. Electrical systems are responsible for more failures than mechanical or structural systems, but they are also comparatively easier to repair. Nevertheless, it is important to lower the rate of failure and improve the ease of maintenance of electrical systems. This paper presents approaches to achieve these goals at the component level as well as at the system level. ABB's PCS6000 is used as the example to discuss component level issues. This paper also compares five possible conversion-collection system architectures considering their reliability and amenability to maintenance. The failure rates can be lowered and the serviceability can be improved by incorporating these considerations properly at the design stage.