Abstract
Shift to renewable energy is a nation-wide trend in Japan after 2011. Although wind power is one of the hopeful renewable energy sources, energy cost is not competitive and introduction amount is insufficient. Especially in the Northeast region of Japan(Tohoku), wind energy is strongly focused, since relatively strong seasonal wind blows. But the weather condition, industrial backgrounds, energy demand, etc. in Japanese Northeast are rather different compared to other regions in Japan. Thus, failure factor and effect on downtime should be estimated individually. This study focuses on practical failure factor in wind turbines of Japanese Northeast and carries out dynamic modeling of failure possibilities. failure modes and estimated downtimes. The result shows increasing possibility of winter thunder and some other causes are relatively important in this region and maintenance planning should respond to these failure modes. Finally, the paper concludes that proper maintenance planning corresponding to the regional situation can be a promising way to reduce energy cost and to boost installing of renewable energy.
