Identifying the most efficient wind energy sites
Wind, a free, clean and abundant energy source that can be used to generate electricity, accounted for over one third of the total electricity generated from renewable sources in the EU in 2021. Continual improvements in manufacturing and turbine design have helped to continually drive down costs, making wind power an increasingly attractive renewable energy option. Nonetheless, some persistent challenges have limited the efficient roll-out of wind power. One of these challenges is the lack of accurate and detailed information about conditions at potential wind farm sites. Such information is however needed to maximise the power generated by a wind farm and minimise its noise footprint. “The knowledge gap here is particularly critical when considering the potential deployment of urban wind turbines,” explains zEPHYR project coordinator Christophe Schram from the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium. “These turbines are aimed at exploiting specific wind characteristics over the urban canopy (i.e. above street roofs and between buildings). Another important aspect hindering the full exploitation of wind energy – again in urban environments in particular – is societal acceptance of wind turbine installations.”
Developing advanced atmospheric models
The zEPHYR project, which was supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, sought to identify and develop methods and tools to help policymakers and stakeholders decide where wind turbines should be deployed, for maximum energy production. To achieve this, the project brought together a group of early-stage researchers to investigate and develop advanced atmospheric models at different scales. “We first identified a need to develop tools to generate accurate, time-resolved and scale-resolved wind data for specific terrains and atmospheric conditions,” adds Schram. “The second need was the upgrade of state-of-the-art tools and methods for predicting wind energy harvesting, turbine structural response and fatigue, and flow-induced noise. On the societal side, the various impacts of wind turbines in terms of resident benefits, as well as visual or acoustic impacts, also needed to be addressed.”
Online repository for wind research
The project team spent a great deal of time carrying out theoretical and numerical research, in order to validate and fine-tune these simulation tools. This experimental work was then complemented by wind tunnel tests, as well as analysis of full-scale vertical axis urban wind turbines, to ensure that these theoretical models were accurate. “Field studies were also conducted, in order to gather and rank the societal aspects involved in the deployment of urban wind turbines,” says Schram. The project team was able to cross-validate simulation tools for aerodynamic performance, structural dynamics and noise footprint. “Our hope is that this will support future developments by the scientific community in the field of wind energy,” notes Schram.
More powerful and quieter turbines
Next steps include leveraging the data gathered in the zEPHYR project to improve wind turbine installations, especially in the urban environment. This could lead to more performant and quieter wind turbines in both rural and urban environments, thereby supporting Europe’s need to decarbonise the energy landscape. “Some of the atmospheric simulation tools could also be applied in other fields, such as for the assessment of safety, noise and eventually societal acceptance of new services such as delivery drones or urban air mobility,” adds Schram. “A follow-up Marie Sklodowska Curie project has been submitted in that direction.”
Keywords
zEPHYR, wind energy, turbines, renewable, decarbonise, energy, urban
