Function
Balance of plant maintenance and service is focused on ensuring the operational integrity and reliability of all wind farm assets other than the wind turbines, including the substation(s), foundations, array cables, export cables, scour protection and corrosion protection systems.
What it costs*
About £12 million per annum for a 1 GW wind farm.
Who supplies them
3Sun, Acteon Group, Boston Energy, Briggs Marine, Correll Group, CWind (Global Marine Group), DORIS, First Marine Solutions, Fred. Olsen WindCarrier, James Fisher Marine Services, JDR Cable Systems, Maritime Developments, Oceaneering, Ocean Infinity, OEG Renewables, Pharos Offshore, Pict Offshore, Rotech Subsea, SMD, Sulmara, Synaptec, Venterra and W3G Marine.
Key facts
The balance of plant forms an integral part of the wind farm system. Proactive balance of plant maintenance is a key aspect of a reliability based preventative maintenance regime.
Regular inspections of all balance of plant elements are required to ensure emerging issues are highlighted and remedial service work is planned in order to avoid loss of generation.