Interdependency of human factors and turbine state in offshore wind farm operations

The effectiveness of operation and maintenance (O&M) activities significantly impacts the availability of offshore wind farms (OWFs) and the total cost of energy production. When a turbine is stopped to rectify a failure of any critical equipment or to perform preventive maintenance, there is a substantial cost for repair or replacement. Simultaneously, there is a production loss associated. Humans play a critical role in every stage of the O&M in the offshore wind industry. Human errors may jeopardize maintenance effectiveness, increase a system s failure rate, or cause faster degradation, which may have substantial costs to the entire operation and cause pressure on the production to compensate for the downtime. This production pressure and repair cost pressure directly impact human performance, for instance, by shortening the time available to complete required maintenance activities. The cost pressure may also affect the industry s operational budget, leading to hiring less trained and inexperienced maintenance crews or postponing training. These effects may lead to failure in different maintenance phases, including fault diagnosis and mistakes during repair tasks, further increasing human error probability (HEP). This paper proposes a causal loop diagram for the maintenance system of the offshore wind turbine, accounting for the interdependencies amongst human error likelihood, equipment health state, and associated uncertainties. By implementing various maintenance planning approaches, the dynamics of the system are modelled with more accuracy to identify the factor affecting the maintenance strategy and minimize human errors in the O&M of OWFs.