Condition monitoring of wind turbine drivetrains : state-of-the-art technologies, recent trends, and future outlook

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Kestel, Kayacan and Chesterman, Xavier and Zappalá, Donatella and Watson, Simon and Li, Mingxin and Hart, Edward and Carroll, James and Vidal, Yolanda and Nejad, Amir R. and Sheng, Shawn and Guo, Yi and Stammler, Matthias and Wirsing, Florian and Saleh, Ahmed and Gregarek, Nico and Baszenski, Thao and Decker, Thomas and Knops, Martin and Jacobs, Georg and Lehmann, Benjamin and König, Florian and Pereira, Ines and Daems, Pieter-Jan and Peeters, Cedric and Helsen, Jan (2026) Condition monitoring of wind turbine drivetrains : state-of-the-art technologies, recent trends, and future outlook. Wind Energy Science. ISSN 2366-7451 (In Press) (https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2025-168)

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Abstract

As wind energy scales up to meet global energy demands and security goals, reducing the levelized cost of energy has become essential, particularly through improvements in operations and maintenance. 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 supervisory control and data acquisition (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.

ORCID iDs

Kestel, Kayacan, Chesterman, Xavier, Zappalá, Donatella, Watson, Simon, Li, Mingxin ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4933-3626, Hart, Edward ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2322-4520, Carroll, James ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1510-1416, Vidal, Yolanda, Nejad, Amir R., Sheng, Shawn, Guo, Yi, Stammler, Matthias, Wirsing, Florian, Saleh, Ahmed, Gregarek, Nico, Baszenski, Thao, Decker, Thomas, Knops, Martin, Jacobs, Georg, Lehmann, Benjamin, König, Florian, Pereira, Ines, Daems, Pieter-Jan, Peeters, Cedric and Helsen, Jan;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)