Routing and Scheduling of Maintenance Fleet for Offshore Wind Farms

Reducing the operation and maintenance (O&M) cost is a necessity in current offshore wind farms so that the produced power can achieve a competitive price in the market. An offshore wind farm normally comprises a large number of turbines which demand frequent maintenance visits. In addition to making maintenance plans that avoid downtime and production losses, it is important to utilize the expensive resources, such as service vessels, in an efficient way. This article introduces the routing and scheduling problem of a maintenance fleet for offshore wind farms (RSPMFOWF), which is to determine the optimal assignments of turbines and routes to the vessels in terms of cost. Simultaneously considering the characteristics and limitations in this problem, we present the mathematical formulations for the RSPMFOWF. A computational case study is also carried out. The results provide both the optimized cost and detailed arrangements, which can be directly used in maintenance planning.