Efficient harvesting of the wind energy

Project Information

AEOLUS4FUTURE

Grant agreement ID: 643167

DOI

10.3030/643167

Project closed

EC signature date 16 December 2014

Start date 1 January 2015

End date 31 December 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 811 804,92

EU contribution

€ 3 811 804,92

Coordinated by

LULEA TEKNISKA UNIVERSITET
Sweden

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AEOLUS4FUTURE (Efficient harvesting of the wind energy)

Reporting period: 2017-01-01 to 2018-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Aeolus4Future was a Marie Curie-Skłodowska Initial Training Network aiming at innovate sustainable wind energy systems for the future needs of Europe. Moreover, while progressing in the field of wind energy research Aeolus4Future trained the next generation of technical experts in the field of wind energy: Experts of tomorrow combining an in-depth engineering education with a broad overview on multi-disciplinary wind energy related topics.
Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy resources, therefore more wind energy systems are expected to be built in Europe. With this development additional challenges follow, e.g. how to optimally design off-shore and/or on-shore structures, how to design highly efficient wind turbines and how to take advantage of high performance materials. Moreover, development of wind energy systems with reduced noise and vibrations are of importance to get the acceptance and approval of new installations by the European citizens.

Aeolus4Future started on the 1st of January 2015 and ended 31st of December 2018. It provided training for 15+ Early Stage Researchers.Ten beneficiaries in seven European countries and five partners were involved in Aeolus4Future.
The research covered by Aeolus4Future was divided in six work packages, covering several different aspects of wind energy systems and wind energy harvesting:
WP1 – Wind turbine aerodynamics and aeroacoustics
WP2 – Wind turbine load analysis, control and simulation
WP3 – New generation of towers for challenging load conditions
WP4 – Integrated design and reliability of support structures
WP5 – New applications of wind energy systems
WP6 – Monitoring and integrity of land-based wind energy converters

Besides these six work packages focusing on different research subjects, three other work packages were established covering management, training and dissemination/outreach.
All research focused work packages have delivered new knowledge of great value for the wind energy industry and the society, but the main output of Aeolus4Future is after all the Early Stage Researchers themselves that have taken the opportunity given to them to learn, build up new networks and to develop as researchers. This output will have a long-lasting positive impact on the European Community.

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

At the initial stage of Aeolus4Future the focus was on the recruitment of the 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) and development of the work plans for all the ESRs before the scientific work and the training could start. In parallel to that, the upcoming training activities and conferences were planned in detail and a project web site (http://www.aeolus4future.eu/) was developed by the project managers and the senior researchers involved in the project.
Beside the individual work plans developed within Aeolus4Future all 15 recruited ESRs were enrolled in local PhD programs at the hosting universities, offering them an excellent opportunity to broaden their education as well as their networks within the global research community.

Within Aeolus4Future five comprehensive training courses and four workshops have been arranged, covering different topics of relevance for the achievement of the project objectives. The location for the courses and workshops varied between consortium members and a majority of the courses were also open for participation by PhD students outside of Aeolus4Future. As part of their training, the ESRs were given the possibility to spend time as guest researchers at another university or research institute within the consortium for approximately three months. The individual work and the training received gave the ESRs an excellent start on a research carrier that hopefully will be beneficial for the future European Community. One of the ESRs was chosen to present her research at the 20 years MSCA event in Brussels on the 29th of January 2016. This can be seen as a measure of the quality of the training of the ESRs within Aeolus4Future.
The research activities performed and the dissemination of the research results within Aeolus4Future resulted in 86 publications with ESRs as authors or co-authors. Initially three open Aeolus4Future research conferences were planned. Unfortunately, the first conference, planned to be held in Ankara, Turkey, had to be cancelled shortly before the conference due to security issues. The two other conferences were arranged as joint ventures between Aeolus4Future and the COST action WINERCOST, the first in Coimbra, Portugal, in 2017 and the second in Catanzaro Lido, Italy, in 2018. Besides the these two conferences, Aeolus4Future and its members were active in several other dissemination activities, both towards the research community and the industry, such as the EUROSTEEL, EURODYN, CESARE and ISOPE conferences and the arranged outreach to the industry at the Hannover Messe 2018.

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)

The first part of the ESR's research activity was dedicated to the state of the art reviews within their respective research subject and to development of their own research plans. During the later stages of Aeolus4Future all ESRs achieved research results of value for the research community and some also managed to develop their findings into results ready to be implemented by the industry.
The research questions studied by the ESRs were all of a very complex nature, thus the research work is best described through the submitted publications. However, it can be concluded that Aeolus4Future have, in general, delivered new knowledge of great value for the wind energy industry and the society. Still, the main output of Aeolus4Future is the ESRs themselves, and this output will have a long-lasting positive impact on the European Community.
The project had a notable impact on both scientific and socio-economic level. As an example, one of the ESRs (A. Mockute) has contributed to more than just efficiently and accurately modelling the wave loads on monopile-supported offshore wind turbines. Her scientific contribution can lead towards more competitive offshore wind energy costs to aid the global sustainability challenges. Her socio-economic impact during her participation in the project also had an effect on a much smaller community level. As a young female engineer and researcher on such prestigious international project on renewable energy she was interviewed by the national radio and newspapers. Although the impact did not extend to a global level, she managed to inspire a high number of young girls to pursue a carrier in engineering and/or research. Additionally, she was invited to talk about her research at the 20 years Marie Curie Event in Brussels on the 29th of November 2016. A second example was one of the ESRs (G. Sabau) that focused on the high-strength steel stability behavior of different cross-sections. This in turn led to a discussion of updating the current buckling curves used in design. A possible outcome of his research is a change and/or update of the design rules concerning high-strength steel members subjected to pure compression at European or national level. The use of less restrictive rules for the high-strength steel members subjected to flexural buckling should allow for more economic designs. This will reduce material usage, transportation and erection costs, all contributing to a reduction in CO2 footprint.

Aeolus4future Participants