DNV launches joint industry project to confirm potential of wind farm control technology

Windfarm control technology has the potential to optimize turbine performance and increase renewables energy production

Høvik, Norway, 4 April 2023 – DNV, the independent energy expert and assurance provider, has launched a joint industry project (JIP) alongside wind farm owners, turbine manufacturers, as well as other sector experts, to increase confidence in innovative wind farm control (WFC) technology.

WFC covers the models and procedures required to control each turbine in a wind farm through approaches such as wake steering and induction control, in a way that optimizes the wind farm’s total output or overall performance. It enables operators to extract additional energy and potentially optimise loading across turbines, and allows them to claw back some of the wake losses that reduce energy yield. 

Companies involved in the JIP include EDF Renewables, ENEL GREEN POWER, ENGIE, Equinor, GE Renewable Energy, Greencoat, Iberdrola/Scottish Power, Pattern, RES, RWE, Shell, Vestas, Windey, Ørsted and a few further companies are in the process of joining.

Ditlev Engel, CEO Energy Systems at DNV, said: “DNV launches this joint industry project to demonstrate the value of this promising wind control technology, which may become as common as energy yield assessment and equally necessary to wind projects. It’s tremendous to see that many key players in the wind industry unite to further the development of technologies that will have an immense benefit for the sector, and society at large. The more we can optimize the output of wind farms, the faster we will achieve our global climate goals.” 

Jaideep SANDHU, CTO, ENGIE, said: “WFC is the natural evolution to move from turbine level optimisation to a wind farm level optimisation for Wind assets. It will allow to extract more energy while also ensuring that the integrity of the wind farm is maintained.”

Anne Vedel, SVP, Vestas Power Solutions, said: “Implementing intelligent wind farm control and thereby increasing the efficiency of wind power plants will be one of the key enablers for securing the green energy transition. Implementing new technology requires careful validation in order to make sure that we don’t compromise the quality or performance of our products, which is why we join this program. Improving existing products through innovation, rather than implementing unproven new technology, is key for us to ensure sustainable and reliable product development.”

Lars Landberg, Vice President at DNV, added: “Successful design and implementation of WFC requires accurate, analytical techniques and models and their validation against experimental data. The industry is currently relying upon narrow sets of data and is looking to accelerate the demonstration of bankability of these tools and methods to scale up. This JIP aims to make a giant leap forward with respect to the validation of and confidence in WFC technology.” 

WFC is a novel technique that can enable operators to optimize their assets’ performances and bring increased revenue from generation, reduction in operational turbine loading and extension of the life of turbines. This technology’s potential is all the more important given that DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook forecasts a rapid ramp-up of solar and wind, to the point that they will dominate the power mix in 2050 with a 69% combined share of global installed electricity capacity.

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