Wind-farm operators around the world spend over $8 billion every year on maintenance, a figure that is expected to increase by 11% a year, every year, between now and 2025.
Operational costs can account for up to 20% of the total budget. Every year, there are 1,200 incidents of gearbox failure among the 175,000 geared turbines worldwide with a cost of around $300,000 per incident and sometimes up to $500,000. Additionally, the mean downtime is between six and eight days and the monetary impact this has is significant and shows the importance of implementing predictive maintenance measures.
According to a study by Shell Lubricants, 84% of executives in power companies recognised that effective equipment lubrication can generate savings and have a significant impact on the bottom line. Despite this, over a third (38%) of executives in power companies say that lubrication is rarely a priority. As a result, 40% say their companies still experience regular breakdowns because of ineffective lubrication.
In addition to monitoring machine wear in real-time and remotely, SanChip devices help assess the most important oil properties, e.g. viscosity, acidity and overall health, therefore allowing to push the lubricant to the limit and reducing equipment downtime and costs associated with oil change.
Feel free to reach out to hear more about our Predictive Maintenance and Industry 4.0 solutions and start a trial!