SCADA-Based Offshore Wind Turbine Monitoring: A Review of Methods of Addressing Marine Environmental Challenges

Abstract Offshore wind turbines could be an important aspect of the global green energy transition, but their implementation is challenging due to the harshness of marine environments. Compared to onshore structures, offshore wind turbines are exposed to stronger loads from waves and more turbulent atmospheric conditions, while salt-laden air accelerates structural degradation. These variable environmental conditions also make diagnostics difficult. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, which are already embedded in all turbines, provide a cost-effective source of operational data for performance assessment and condition monitoring. Although experience of SCADA-based onshore testing over recent decades has provided valuable knowledge, these insights cannot be directly applied to offshore monitoring. This review summarises the current state of knowledge of SCADA-based monitoring for offshore wind turbines, compares it with onshore approaches, and highlights offshore-specific challenges arising from the marine environment.