Wind turbines are a critical pillar of renewable energy production, yet workers routinely encounter significant operational risks, including overheating, electrical fires, and arc flash incidents within the nacelle, the large housing on top of the wind turbine tower, right behind the rotor blades. These issues threaten the reliability of energy output and endanger maintenance personnel, increase operational costs, and contribute to lengthy downtime.
Traditional methods of diagnosing these hazards, while long relied upon, are often dangerous, inefficient, and prone to data inaccuracies. In response to these persistent challenges, Puget Sound Energy transitioned from conventional diagnostic methods to an advanced fixed bi-spectral infrared camera solution, fundamentally transforming its approach to wind turbine maintenance.
This article explores how adopting this technology resulted in substantial improvements in technician safety, operational efficiency, real-time diagnostics, and proactive failure prevention, ultimately reshaping best practices for wind energy infrastructure maintenance.
Wind turbine maintenance has always presented challenges due to the high-risk environments where these systems operate. Identifying overheating nacelle components requires extensive manual inspections that can be time-consuming, hazardous, and error-prone. Traditional tools often fail to provide real-time insights, leading to costly downtime and safety risks to maintenance personnel. The need for more effective diagnostic methods has driven the development of continuous thermal monitoring using advanced infrared camera imaging solutions.
LIMITATIONS OF TRADITIONAL METHODS
Traditionally, diagnosing overheating and electrical component failures has required shutting down turbines, isolating electrical cabinets, and sending maintenance crews up towering structures, where they conduct inspections on cold components using tools such as multimeters.
This is time-consuming and tedious work. Single-use temperature indicators have often been left in place to find areas of excess heat. While simple, they are unreliable because they lack time stamps, are difficult to adhere to components, and cannot provide continuous monitoring. Additionally, technicians ascend and descend multiple times to place, retrieve, and analyse these indicators, further increasing downtime and safety risks.
Maintenance personnel frequently gather incomplete or inaccurate data, leading to prolonged turbine downtime, and unplanned shutdowns caused by unexpected electrical failures place additional strain on grid reliability. The cumbersome nature of these methods also limits the ability to conduct frequent inspections, leaving potential issues unnoticed until failure. With traditional inspection methods failing to deliver actionable real-time insights, operators and maintenance personnel face ongoing uncertainty regarding the true health of their electrical systems, necessitating a more advanced solution with actionable data.
CONTINUOUS THERMAL MONITORING
Without continuous thermal monitoring of individual components, operators can react to problems only once they have already caused significant damage, rather than preventing failures before they occur. While thermocouples with remote data loggers can report that a specific component is misbehaving and ambient temperature measurement tools can report that something is amiss in a certain enclosure or area of coverage, only infrared thermal imaging can holistically see the entire space in question and send images and alarms indicating that a component has a temperature issue. If a wire is overheating, the image will highlight the specific wire of concern along with actual temperature data.
PUGET SOUND ENERGY IMPLEMENTATION
Recognising these challenges, Puget Sound Energy adopted an innovative fixed infrared imaging approach that fundamentally improved turbine maintenance and safety protocols. Unlike previous solutions, the bi-spectral infrared camera system (Photo 1) provided simultaneous thermal and optical imaging, enabling technicians to continuously and remotely monitor critical electrical components. Real-time monitoring capability meant technicians no longer needed to power down turbines or physically access hazardous environments to assess electrical conditions.
This advanced technology also featured automated software-driven alerts, triggering notifications whenever components exceeded predetermined temperature thresholds. These alerts allowed immediate interventions, preventing minor issues from escalating into major failures. Unlike traditional monitoring systems that required lengthy set-up times and manual data retrieval, the fixed infrared camera powered via power-over-ethernet provided instant and ongoing visibility (Photo 2) into turbine operations. By eliminating the need for repeated physical inspections, technicians could focus on analysing and addressing performance trends over time.
Early Detection and Prevention of Failures
The adoption of fixed thermal imaging technology yielded immediate and measurable benefits. Puget Sound Energy discovered that wires running to suspect contactors—critical electrical components within the nacelle—were routinely operating well above their manufacturer-recommended temperature limits, in some cases exceeding 180°C (Photo 3).
The ability to identify these anomalies in real-time enabled proactive maintenance measures that significantly reduced the likelihood of catastrophic failures such as fires and electrical malfunctions. With continuous monitoring, engineers could assess historical data to determine patterns of stress on components, allowing even more targeted preventive maintenance.
Deeper Diagnostic Insights
Beyond merely identifying overheating issues, the system provided deeper diagnostic insights that allowed technicians to implement targeted corrective actions. The actionable data gave maintenance the ability to send crews up into the nacelle with a more targeted approach and with the correct replacement parts.
In one case, after optimising component spacing for improved airflow, enhancing cooling mechanisms, and adjusting system configurations to reduce heat buildup, they eliminated arc flash and fires altogether. By leveraging this data-driven approach, Puget Sound Energy was able to mitigate operational risks, extend the lifespan of key turbine components, and enhance overall system efficiency. Moreover, the insights gained from this technology are now informing design improvements for future turbine installations, demonstrating its long-term value beyond immediate maintenance benefits.
Operational and Safety Benefits
One of the most significant advantages of implementing fixed thermal imaging was the reduction in the need for hazardous tower climbs. The real-time remote monitoring capability of the system meant that technicians no longer had to perform routine inspections of low- to high-voltage cabinets manually. As a result, technician exposure to dangerous electrical environments was substantially minimised. Puget Sound Energy estimated that the new system would reduce the number of manual cabinet inspections by at least 50%, preventing hundreds of unnecessary tower ascents annually. This reduction not only improves worker safety and uptime but also increases overall workforce efficiency, allowing personnel to focus on higher-priority maintenance tasks.
Predictive Maintenance Planning
The system’s continuous monitoring capabilities enabled improved predictive maintenance planning. Instead of responding reactively to failures, maintenance teams could proactively schedule interventions during planned downtime, reducing costly emergency repairs and improving overall wind farm efficiency. By streamlining diagnostic processes and minimizing disruptions, Puget Sound Energy achieved significant cost savings while enhancing turbine reliability. The reduction in unscheduled maintenance also translated into fewer interruptions in energy production, supporting grid stability and sustainability goals.
Expanding Applications
Encouraged by the success of fixed infrared imaging within nacelles, Puget Sound Energy began exploring broader applications for this technology across its renewable energy infrastructure. Fixed thermal cameras are proving invaluable for monitoring and quickly diagnosing issues within other critical systems, such as power converters, inverters, and switch-gear installations. As analytics driven by artificial intelligence (AI) continue to evolve, these systems are expected to provide even deeper insights into mechanical stresses, vibration patterns, and predictive maintenance trends, further enhancing operational reliability.
FUTURE POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
The potential applications of this technology extend beyond wind energy.
- In solar farms, thermal imaging can be used to detect overheating in inverters and electrical connections, preventing potential fire hazards.
- In hydropower facilities, similar monitoring techniques can be applied to assess electrical equipment performance and identify inefficiencies.
- In battery energy storage system applications, targeted presets with alerting software will allow a specific battery to be identified and isolated prior to these temperature issues spreading heat to nearby batteries. These early-stage warnings will prevent thermal runaway long before it begins.
As renewable energy technology develops, AI-powered thermal imaging solutions are expected to improve reliability, safety, and operational efficiency. As more operators see the benefits of real-time thermal monitoring, these solutions could help improve the sustainability and resilience of energy infrastructure.
FURTHER READING
Severe, R. 2025. “Applying Continuous Infrared Camera Technology and Software at Puget Sound Energy,” www.sytis.com/blog/success-applying-continuous-infrared-camera-technology-and-software-at-puget-sound-energy/, 19 February 2025.
Troy Goss is a Project Manager at SYTIS, where he leads the deployment of fixed thermal imaging and condition-monitoring systems for electrical utilities and industrial facilities. A trained thermographer with nearly a decade of experience in technology and utility applications, Goss has managed substation monitoring projects, including semi-permanent infrared installations for Southern California Edison. His work focuses on using continuous thermal data to improve electrical safety, reduce risk, and support condition-based maintenance.