Condition monitoring of wind turbine drivetrains: State-of-the-art technologies, recent trends, and future outlook
Abstract. As wind energy scales up to meet global decarbonization and energy security goals, reducing the LCoE has become essential, particularly through improvements in O&M. This positioning paper explores the state-of-the-art in condition monitoring for wind turbines. It focuses on drivetrain components, which are among the most failure-prone and maintenance-intensive subsystems. It examines current diagnostic and prognostic strategies using SCADA data, vibration and acoustic analysis, and digital twin frameworks, alongside emerging techniques in machine learning, signal processing, and hybrid modelling. The paper also identifies key challenges, including data availability, labelling, standardization, and the gap between academic research and industrial adoption. This work aims to guide future research and industrial efforts in making wind energy more reliable, predictable, and cost-efficient.
Authors
- Donatella Zappalá (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8283-5102)
- James Carroll (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1510-1416)
- Amir R. Nejad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0391-8696)
- Thao Baszenski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0978-0563)
- Florian König (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4795-6451)
- Martin Knops
- Shuangwen Sheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0134-0907)
- Yolanda Vidal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4964-6948)
- Matthias Stammler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1874-1344)
- Georg Jacobs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7564-288X)
- Edward Hart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2322-4520)
- Pieter-Jan Daems (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5659-0079)
- Jan Helsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6574-7629)
- Kayacan Kestel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5487-5406)
- Xavier Chesterman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8348-0019)
- Benjamin Lehmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8328-2503)
- Simon Watson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6694-3149)
- Thomas Decker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3296-7166)
- Yi Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6413-947X)
- Inês A. C. Pereira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3283-4520)
- Florian Wirsing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1309-8580)
- Mingxin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3835-1036)
- Cédric Peeters (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7044-6292)
- Ahmed Saleh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9374-1059)
- Nico Gregarek
Institutions
- National Laboratory of the Rockies (US)
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)
- University of Strathclyde (GB)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- Wind Power Engineering (Japan) (JP)
- Flanders Make (Belgium) (BE)
- Fraunhofer Research Institution for Additive Manufacturing Technologies IAPT (DE)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2025-09-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2025-168
- Primary Topic
- Real-time simulation and control systems
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00