The Wind Energy Institute of Canada (WEICan) is pleased to highlight findings of a recent collaboration with ExxonMobil focused on identifying best practices for lubricant change procedures in utility-scale wind turbines.

As Canada’s wind fleet matures, maintenance strategies are becoming increasingly important to maximize reliability, reduce downtime, and extend component life. Lubrication management — particularly gearbox and drivetrain oil changes — plays a critical role in long-term turbine performance and operational efficiency.

This collaboration evaluated lubricant conversion methodologies under real-world operating conditions. Specifically, the project examined how different oil change protocols affect both turbine performance and lubricant condition.

The following progressively conservative conversion approaches were assessed:

• T1 – Baseline

• T2 – Top-up

• T3 – Drain and fill

• T4 – Flush and fill

• T5 – Double flush and fill

By systematically applying these protocols in operating turbines and monitoring resulting oil condition and performance metrics, the study found that a drain-and-fill procedure (T3) can deliver comparable outcomes to more conservative flush-and-fill approaches (T4/T5) — provided the incoming and outgoing gear oils are chemically compatible.

These findings suggest that, where compatibility is confirmed, operators may be able to adopt less conservative conversion protocols without compromising performance. This has meaningful implications for cost control, downtime reduction, and maintenance efficiency — all of which are critical considerations for wind turbine owners and operators.

The results underscore the importance of evidence-based maintenance practices and demonstrate how structured field evaluation can inform practical, reliability-focused decision-making in wind operations.