Atmospheric Physics and Turbulence for Wind Energy

Project Information

AptWind

Grant agreement ID: 101119550

DOI

10.3030/101119550

EC signature date 12 July 2023

Start date 1 September 2023

End date 31 August 2027

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 4 221 676,80

Coordinated by

DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AptWind (Atmospheric Physics and Turbulence for Wind Energy)

Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

AptWind provides training for a new creative, entrepreneurial, innovative and resilient industry-oriented academic generation apt to face current and future challenges at the frontier of research within atmospheric flow physics and turbulence for wind energy applications, where the trained Doctoral Candidates (DCs) will be able to convert knowledge and ideas into new products, and services for economic and social benefit.​
The project is guided by its 5 training objectives:
TO1: To facilitate fifteen DCs in reaching a high level of technical/project-specific excellence within their individual research projects under the umbrella of Atmospheric flow physics and turbulence for wind energy applications.
TO2: To significantly improve the communication skills of the DCs throughout their PhD training.
TO3: To provide the DCs with a thorough understanding of the process from research via innovation to industry/tool implementation.
TO4: To provide an environment for the DCs to develop transferable skills as well as a method to document them leading to improved employability and career prospects within and outside academia.
TO5: To build a strong career-defining network among the DCs, academia in the EU and abroad and the industry, both within AptWind and beyond.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

MTE1-AptWind DC kick-off - Setting sail for the AptWind journey (Roskilde):
The event provided a lot of useful information and awareness about various project-related aspects and networking among the AptWind participants.

MTE2-20th EAWE PhD Seminar - Network knitting (Visby):
The second main training event took place in October 2024 in Visby and was co-located with the EAWE PhD seminar providing ample opportunities of networking. In addition, the NWT2 CFD course was kicked off, and the doctoral candidates were engaged in a workshop together with local high school students exercising how to communicate research to different stakeholders and interact with people outside the research community.

MTE3-Industry workshop I - Carrots for commercialization (Nantes).:
The third main training event took place from June 23 to July 1, 2025 in Nantes and Lannion in France. During the first day a dedicated course on innovation, IPR, and commercialization was given and during the second day the first industry workshop was held together with the AptWind general assembly. After that, there were three days of Wind Energy Science Conference and during the weekend a relocation to Lannion took place for visiting the lidar factory of Lumibird and for kicking off the course Scientific paper writing and publication ethics.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

So far, there are only two main results from the 15 DCs. The first is a method to better extract turbulence statistics from a wind Doppler lidar instrument. This is published in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques and the result may, after further elaboration, be used by the wind lidar industry. Further uptake requires further validation of the method, and that is a part of the plan for further research for this particular DC (DC1). The second is a demonstration that dual-Doppler lidar systems can be used to extend mean wind profiles and under some circumstances turbulence profiles beyond the reach of meteorological masts in complex terrain. This technique can be adopted by the wind energy consulting industry. The potential is that the wind resource over larger areas in complex terrain can be mapped in detail at many points without extensive use of meteorological masts, which typically requires building permits and are quite expensive.

AptWind_2022_front_illustration