We have investigated the effect of leading edge erosion on the annual energy production of a turbine. The energy production drops -1%, -3% and -5% after 5, 10 and 25 years respectively. The effect of a 5 year and 10 year maintenance interval is shown in the graph as well.

For a "model" onshore farm consisting of 10 turbines we have investigated the additional effect of each repair campaign on the total energy production of the farm after 25 years.


With increasing number of repair cycles, maintenance intervals become shorter, hence maintenance costs per cycle drop. However, more repairs are required. The net effect is a linear increase in the overal maintenance costs. When the maintenance cost of the next cycle drops below the effect of this cycle, an optimum is achieved.
We have investigated two additional leading edge erosion regimes: mild and severe leading edge erosion.

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