Field-Data Based Failure Analysis and Application-Specific Testing (Wind Power and PV)

Field data of electrical conditions and failure descriptions of Wind turbines and PV inverters are analyzed. The total installed power capacity sums up to 24 GW for Wind and 19 GW for PV applications. Main failure components and patterns can be determined. After 10 years of operation no indication of significant wear-out effects could be found. This suggests a reliable design. However, a high infant mortality could be observed that gives rise to suspicion that some manufacturing defects cannot be detected by current end-of-line tests. It can be assumed that humidity is a driver for yet to be defined failure mechanisms on different components. A better understanding of these mechanisms may lead to enhanced testing procedures and a significant reduction of early failures. First results on field-data based mission profiles are shown.