Name
Andrew Bumbak
Job title
Team Lead - Operations and Life Energy Analytics
Organisation
DNV
Speaker biography
Andrew is a Senior Engineer with DNV, and Team Lead for Operations Life Energy Analytics for the Australian and New Zealand markets. Andrew has a Bachelor of Engineering and a Master’s of Sustainable Energy from RMIT. Andrew has over 8 years’ experience within the wind and solar industry focused mainly on the analysis of operating assets, however he also has extensive experience providing DNV’s customers with pre-construction energy estimates of wind farms and utility scale solar PV installations. Andrew has provided energy due diligence assistance to banks, investors, manufacturers and development companies in Australia, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
Speaking At
Presentation title
Extending Wind Farm Life Through Operational Data
Presentation summary
As Australian wind farms approach their design end-of-life (“EoL”), owners face critical decisions on whether to decommission, repower, or extend asset life. The clear preference is extension of life and thus maximising of asset value and improving the sustainability of wind projects. This presentation will explore the analytical aspects for EoL assessments, leveraging headroom between IEC turbine type class assumptions and actual site conditions. We examine the implications of the new IEC standard 61400-28 released in March 2025, focusing on its analytical framework for lifetime extension and load assessment. A key component of this process is reforecasting pre-construction site conditions using operational data to refine incurred fatigue estimates. With aAn added benefit of such an approach is that projects which have suffered, periods of heavy curtailment or turbine unavailability can thenmay see a positive impact in an EoL assessment due to reduced loading. Finally, we present techniques to improve life expectancy, including selective curtailment of historically high-loaded turbines and advanced operational strategies. These insights provide a roadmap for EoL and the maximising of asset value.
