r/windturbine

Hi everyone,

I'm a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelor's in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and I'm planning to do my final-year project in the wind energy sector.

The idea I'm currently exploring is building a hybrid digital twin for wind turbine predictive maintenance, where a physics-based simulator is combined with AI/ML models to detect anomalies, estimate component health, and eventually predict failures (e.g., gearbox, bearings, blades, etc.).

So far, I've started looking into OpenFAST as the physics simulation engine and have been reading about SCADA data, condition monitoring, and predictive maintenance. My tentative architecture is to use OpenFAST for the physics-based model and build AI models on top for anomaly detection and Remaining Useful Life (RUL) estimation.

However, I'm still in the early research phase and would really appreciate guidance from people working in this domain.

Some questions I have are:

• Is OpenFAST the right place to start for this kind of project, or are there other frameworks/tools I should explore?
• What are the standard software stacks used for building industrial digital twins in the wind energy sector?
• Are there any publicly available SCADA or condition monitoring datasets that are commonly used for research?
• What papers, books, courses, or GitHub repositories would you recommend for someone entering this field?
• Are there any common pitfalls or misconceptions that beginners should be aware of when building a digital twin for predictive maintenance?

My goal is to build something that's as close to industry practices as possible while remaining feasible for an undergraduate project.

I'd really appreciate any advice, resources, or suggestions. Thanks in advance!

I've got a buddy in South Dakota where that wind event went through early Monday morning. 171 tower site near Highmore, SD. They had 35 collapsed towers due to the storm, 130 mph winds. Far as I know everybody is alright, site wide stand down but goddamn, that's 20% of the towers gone

I'm starting my new job as a wind turbine technician in a few weeks! :D I've never had a problem with heights, but on the other hand, I've never been that high up before. It's safe to say that I'm pretty nervous, but also really excited.

How did you feel when you climbed your first wind turbine?

Does anyone know anything about sky climbers? How much pto? How long do I wait to hear back after a live interview? Pay? Day to day life? Anymore info if possible. Thank you!

What's up guys, starting school on July 13th in California, just want to get the inside scoop, single no kids, want to be a travel tech, I'm used to being away from home, is the school hard? Anything I should know? I'm using my GI Bill. Thanks in advance

Hello,

I have an upcoming interview with Orsted that will have some technical questions. I believe this will be simple mechanical & electrical questions. Does anyone know where I can find some practice questions?

Just to note I am an electrician to trade I just want to have a practice is possible before the interview.

I'm starting an apprenticeship soon to become a wind turbine technician. Gonna get certified for both onshore and offshore.

The apprenticeship will take place in Germany, and I will probably stay for a few years in Germany afterwards to get some work experience. However, I will at some point want to move somewhere else.

How easy is it (with an EU passport) to move to another country and have the same job? If I wanted to work in, say, Italy, would the language barrier prevent me from getting hired at all? Does anyone know what it's like outside the EU? I saw that Vestas operates wind parks in Australia and has job openings there. Is it possible to ask to get transferred?

My apologies if these questions seem juvenile. I'm new to the industry and have never worked for a big company before.

Thanks in advance for any info!

Currently looking to get into the wind industry. I meet a lot of the entry level requirements since they’re requiring only 3+ years of technical experience related to hydraulics and electrical. I wanted to know some of the companies out there right now offering travel positions in the United States.

Hi there guys, I've started a project to build a DIY wind turbine 500w (realistic or not I've only just started researching), in west London suburbs, and now I want to note each day's wind speed to find out the wind speeds in my area and the bearing, should I use windy or windfinder or anything else you guys recommend, also is windfinder "super forecast" better than normal forecast as they are showing polar wind informations. Thanks in advance.