Feasible and sustainable source of power is a burning question nowadays. The offshore wind farms can be a solution to power generation problem, but it is relatively more expensive. Its installation cost is more than twice of its similar size onshore counterpart. The cost that matters most is the operations and maintenance (O&M) cost. Expensive and sophisticated transfer vehicles as well as highly skilled technicians are needed to conduct O&M activities, which results in a remarkably higher O&M cost for an offshore wind farm project. Few researchers proposed some strategies that could resolve the problem nicely, although there is no universal maintenance strategy, which will fit all the conditions. Optimal maintenance strategy depends on a lot of factors such as cost of energy, level of reliability needed, weather conditions, availability of skilled technicians, availability of crew transfer vehicles, and to mention a few. Total 190 research articles related to offshore maintenance have been reviewed, and some prominent models have been discussed in detail. Some risk and reliability-based models reduced annual maintenance cost by 23%, whereas some other opportunistic maintenance strategy was able to minimize 32% of production loss and transportation cost. Compatibility and usability of different models and results are highlighted. This critical review is aimed at identifying the relevant research outcomes and comparing their critical aspects to provide a good guideline about optimal maintenance strategy to the maintenance managers.
Tusar et al. (Mon,) studied this question.