Moventas is offering a condition monitoring leasing program that will allow owners to keep a watchful eye on equipment and expenses.
Moventas' program converts condition monitoring's upfront installation costs into a monthly payment for wind farm owners.
According to the company, a lease eliminates the financial obstacles to condition monitoring retrofits and creates a one-stop-shop for wind farm owners looking for a complete service offering. Additionally, the program translates condition monitoring from a hardware-only business to a complete lifecycle service.
Condition monitoring emphasizes the early detection of mechanical problems through remote, real-time monitoring of gearbox vibration, oil condition and temperature.
Although many new wind turbines are sold with advance condition monitoring on the drivetrain, many of the 140,000 wind turbines currently operating were built without condition monitoring technology – and wind farm owners could find it difficult to afford and deploy.
Currently, wind farm revenues are down due to lower electricity prices, and these farms typically cannot afford the upfront costs to retrofit the existing fleets with the condition monitoring capability. However, today's interest rates enable low cost operational leases of this kind of equipment. Leveraging the innovative leasing structures that are prevalent in other industries spreads the cost out over multiple years for the wind farm owner.
Moventas is currently monitoring more than 2 GW of wind turbines globally and has repaired more than 1,500 multi-brand wind turbine gearboxes in North America.
