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10 Key Values of an Independent Service Provider

Can an ISP match the OEM?

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

10 Key Values of an Independent Service ProviderIndependence

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UpWind Solutions, Inc.

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Operations & Maintenance Independence

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 Independence1. 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.

in-de-pend-ence (nd-pndns) nounNot subject to anothers authority or jurisdiction; autonomous.




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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.

Informed decision making

Seat at the decision making table

Supply chain control

CHOICE

Liberated and accessible data

Actionable reports

24/7 Asset awareness

INSIGHT

Trust you have the right information

Complete disclosure Partnering for long

term relationship

TRANSPARENCY

O&M Independence Model




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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.




What to look for in a service providerThree indicators can be used to quickly determine the overall level of quality on a Wind Farm:

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

How the service provider manages their Records.

The Cleanliness of the turbines




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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?

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.

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