Can an ISP match the OEM?

10 Key Values of an
Independent Service Provider

UpWind Solutions, Inc.

5444 Napa Street San Diego, CA
92110, USA
+1 619.791.1050
www.upwindsolutions.com

Independence

10 Key Values of an Independent Service Provider

Operations & Maintenance Independence

in-de-pend-ence (nd-pndns) noun

Not subject to anothers authority or jurisdiction; autonomous.

The trend of wind asset owners is to choose an O&M service provider that can drive performance
while maintaining complete transparency with the owner. Some owners have already realized the
value of becoming more independent from the OEM by going with an independent service provider
(ISP) while others are still examining the options to figure out the optimal solution for managing
their assets.
The scheduled and unscheduled maintenance is the largest and most impactful expense for wind
farm owners when it comes to the upkeep, performance, and lifespan of their assets. The industry
offers owners who choose not to operate the turbines themselves two choices for O&M services:
the OEM who performed the responsibilities during the warranty period or an ISP. A true ISP offers
the owner complete independence to understand the condition of their assets and autonomy to
make decisions regarding their assets.
An ISP can indeed match and outperform the OEM when it comes to O&M services. Below are 10 key
values of choosing to work with an ISP and how they differentiate from the OEM.

The 10 Values of O&M Independence

1. Optimized Production: A key indicator in predicting the performance of the O&M
provider is whether or not their decisions are driven by warranty and turbine sales versus
the wind farms energy yield. An ISP is not in the business of selling wind turbines, only
optimizing performance for wind farm owners, leading to decision making that is directly
in line with that of the owners.
2. Innovation: An ISP is constantly innovating to improve performance and create better
O&M tools and processes that align with the owners needs. Examples include everything
from inventing the next generation CBM system that integrates with SCADA data to
creating new solutions for managing risk and assisting the owner through insurance
claims. O&M innovation is what will improve the efficiency of wind farms, optimize
the WTG production, increase the lifespan of the turbines, and reduce unscheduled
maintenance.

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Independence

10 Key Values of an Independent Service Provider

3. Continual Improvement Model: Quality related incidents are going to happen. Whats
important is what the service provider does about them. Simple quality assurance using
a compliance-based system may be adequate at times, but focusing on performance and
continual improvement ensures that the providers management systems are continually
improving to prevent the incidents from occurring again. The top tier ISPs, more so
than any other operators, place a high regard on performance improvement and are
continually refining their systems to provide optimal service to the customer.
4. Open Dialogue: Shared data, records, and open communication differentiates an ISP
from an OEM. Everything from direct access to the CBM data and turbine records, to
having a seat at the decision-making table should be expected of the O&M provider.
A good ISP will be completely open about the condition of the assets and the best ways to
improve performance and reduce costs, empowering owners to make informed decisions
regarding their assets.
5. Spare Parts and Consumables: There is no incentive for OEMs to upgrade their
parts, whereas an ISP can source replacement parts that may be cheaper and perform
better. The best ISPs will have relationships built with suppliers and also have parts and
consumables on hand; reducing costs, delivery time, and removing the need for a storage
facility. O&M managers have said they spend 50% of their time sourcing spare parts,
which will be time saved by utilizing an ISP for parts and consumables ordering.
6. Shared Data: Wind farms produce big data and what is done with that data can directly
affect the performance of the wind turbine generators (WTGs), lifetime of the WTGs and
maintenance costs. A good O&M ISP will be transparent and share all of the WTG and
operational data, helping owners to make better decisions, drive performance, increase
productivity, and reduce WTG downtime. Data has historically been slow to get from the
OEMs or it's been delivered in a way the owner cannot understand or act upon; in large
part due to their warranty obligations. From historic records to predictive analytics, an
O&M provider should provide the owner with clear and actionable data.

O&M Independence Model

TRANSPARENCY

INSIGHT

Trust you have the

right information
Complete disclosure
Partnering for long
term relationship

Liberated and
accessible data
Actionable reports
24/7 Asset awareness

CHOICE
Informed decision
making
Seat at the decision
making table
Supply chain control

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Independence

10 Key Values of an Independent Service Provider

7. Customer Service: As a partner in the process, a good ISP should not run you through
corporate politics and should be easy to contact and communicate with. When you
need something, it gets addressed in a timely manner instead of passed around several
departments that never take action. The success of an ISP is dependent on the success of
the wind farm owner and therefore customer service is a top priority.
8. Discipline: An ISP must provide a higher standard of service and go the extra mile because
their business success depends on it. Technicians who have the discipline to follow high
safety, quality and operations standards directly affect the success of the onsite O&M.
Often turbines are found in dirty or poor condition which directly correlates to the
discipline of the O&M service provider. ISPs must be more disciplined and operate at a
higher level than the OEMs which can be seen in everything from the thorough reports
to their commitment to the wind farms energy yield.

9. Independent Assessment of Condition: An ISP will ensure the owner understands if there
are defects in the turbines, while the OEM has been known to hide them. It is not in the
interest of the OEM to proactively find issues that are covered by the warranty and fix
them at their expense. If the customer doesnt find the problems, the OEM saves money.
A good ISP does not base decisions on warranties and will be transparent about what they
find when theyre uptower.
10. Shared Best Practices: Sharing the best practices and being open with information is vital
for the greater good of the wind industry and for the global development as a renewable
energy option. Sharing information and working together as an industry is the only way
to compete with oil and gas and become a viable energy source. The OEMs now fund
the majority of research and development and have started protecting their information,
preventing growth in the industry as a whole. Also, an OEM has O&M experience only
with their specific technologies, while an ISP that manages multiple wind farms with a
large variety of technologies has a wider range of experience and knowledge to learn
from. Best practices and lessons learned can be shared to improve overall O&M and
production.

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Independence

10 Key Values of an Independent Service Provider

What to look for in a service provider

Three indicators can be used to quickly determine the overall level of quality on a Wind Farm:

Procedural Compliance
How well the teams
follow the maintenance
and other procedures

How the service provider

manages their Records.

The Cleanliness of
the turbines

What to ask from your service provider

The key is to ensure that the service provider has a real, functioning management structure and
systems and that they have the necessary resources dedicated to ensure quality work on the site,
as well as to continually improve their systems. If a wind farm owner is only looking for the labor
piece of O&M, the checklist below is what they should ask of the onsite maintenance provider
and even include in the RFP when searching for providers. The owner should ask for records that
the service provider is actually using their systems. The records should show real examples. The
owners checklist below lists some basic requirements that the wind farm owner should look for
in a service provider.
Owners O&M Checklist
Does the service provider have an efficient and effective management system in place
that ensures high quality services? Are they independently audited and accredited?
An example is ISO9001:2008 certification.
Can they show that their management system allows for continual improvement of
processes, tools, customer service, and training?
Do they have their own NERC compliant 24/7 remote operating center?
Do they conduct audits and quality checks of their O&M operations?
Do they have the means to collect operational data from all the turbines on the wind
farm and analyze it in order to optimize performance?

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Independence

10 Key Values of an Independent Service Provider

Do they have a well-defined and functioning performance improvement program where

they define root cause and then implement corrective and preventive actions?
Do they have the engineering capabilities to prevent future component failures and
increase the lifetime of the asset?
Do they accurately track their calibrated tools, in particular the ones that are out of
tolerance? Is there an individual directly responsible for the program?

Be Independent.

If you are interested in

learning more about how
to gain more control over
your assets and become
independent from the OEM,
please schedule a consultation.

Schedule a
Consultation

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