Minimising costs of wind: Risk control and operation & maintenance strategies

Various risk control and operation & maintenance strategies in onshore and offshore wind farms are discussed. There exists several types of risks involved in wind farm project such as cost/schedule overruns, variations in design, changes in the law, and interface issues between the construction and O&M phase of the project. On average, capital costs are are around &euro700-1000/kW for onshore and &euro1650/kw for offshore farms. The key to risk strategy is to be aware of the risk and develop a plan to eliminate or minimize the risk in the most cost-effective manner.