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Consortium starts demonstration project into positive wake effects of TouchWind’s floating wind turbine.

An international consortium of six parties has started a research & demonstration project into positive wake effects of wind turbines with tilted rotors.
Dutch floating wind technology developer TouchWind, who is developing the tilting angled one-piece rotor floating wind turbine, took the initiative for the so-called POWER project. The other consortium members are Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), research organisation TNO, maritime research institute MARIN, producer of electric motors & drives Nidec and rotor blade specialist We4ce.

POWER, which is an abbreviation of ‘POsitive Wake Effects of turbines with tilted Rotors’, aims to demonstrate that the costs of offshore wind production can be significantly lowered by increasing the energy capture in offshore wind farms. The ‘wake effect’ in wind energy occurs when a wind turbine interacts with the wind, causing the air flow behind the wind turbine to have reduced speed, thus lower energy content, and increased turbulence. This (negatively) affects the performance of the next turbines in line in terms of efficiency and power production.

The Dutch government wishes to accelerate wind energy deployment and cluster wind farms as much as possible to leave contiguous space for other purposes at sea. The POWER project perfectly fits with this goal to increase wind power yield and limit space, by exploring whether turbines with tilted rotors can be positioned closer to each other without reducing their energy capture and increasing the wind energy production per km2.

For its research and demonstration program, the POWER project has received funding from RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. A first specific goal of the POWER project is to investigate the reduction of wake losses by deflecting the wake using turbines with tilted rotors.  A second goal is to investigate and validate that turbines with tilted rotors can be used to ‘pull’ more wind from upper air layers into a wind farm and create a positive effect. Combining these effects would allow for the development of wind farms with a significantly higher power density.

Within the POWER project, ten prototype turbines with tilted rotors of 6m diameter will be developed and built by TouchWind and its partners Nidec and We4Ce. Field testing will be carried out, first on land and subsequently on water. During the testing program several wind farm layouts in terms of configuration and distance will be evaluated by making use of extensive measurements carried out by TNO and MARIN to validate the concept and numerical models.

Founder and CEO of TouchWind, Rikus van de Klippe states: ‘It is wonderful that we can start this project with ten wind turbines with tilted rotors together with our consortium partners who all have their own expertise on specific areas of this research & demonstration program’.

More info:
About TouchWind 

TouchWind is a Dutch startup and inventor of the TouchWind tilting angled one-piece rotor floating turbine concept. Its innovative concept breaks with the current tradition of three-bladed upwind wind turbines which currently dominate the market for on-shore and offshore wind. The result is a significant reduction of both CAPEX and OPEX.

It’s TouchWind’s mission to make wind energy affordable, everywhere and for everyone.

For more information, visit https://www.touchwind.org

About Mitsui O.S.K. Lines 

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is a global leading shipping company operating about 800 ships across the world. MOL fleet includes dry cargo ships, liquefied natural gas carriers, Ro-Ro car carrier ships, oil tankers, etc. Backed by expertise and technology developed throughout our nearly 140-year history, MOL also focuses on social infrastructure businesses including offshore wind power.

MOL aims to become an owner & operator of offshore wind farms as well as a service provider of the marine supply chain around offshore wind farms.

For more information, visit https://www.mol.co.jp/en/

About MARIN (Stichting Maritiem Research Instituut Nederland)

MARIN is a leading, independent, Dutch-based research institute for maritime hydrodynamics. In addition to providing commercial hydrodynamic design and verification services to industry and governments, MARIN’s contribution to shaping tomorrow’s products also takes place through Joint Industry Project (JIPs).

MARIN is widely renowned for its expertise in hydrodynamics and is an efficient partner to bridge the gap between design and operation. For this MARIN uses its hydrodynamic numerical models and full-scale measurement systems.

For more information, visit https://www.marin.nl/en

About Nidec

Nidec is a market-leading global company for electric products, ranging from motors to generators and drives for everything that spins and moves, miniature to gigantic. Nidec has 110,000 employees in 300 companies in 40 countries. Nidec Netherlands B.V. has the ambition to become the largest Dutch provider of electric drive technology.

For more information, visit https://www.nidec-netherlands.nl/over-ons/nidec-netherlands/

About TNO

TNO is the largest independent applied research organisation in the Netherlands. TNO as a whole works on applied science in the broadest sense, from building, infrastructure and maritime to healthy living and transition to a renewable energy system. Within the Wind Energy research group, approximately 50 researchers focus on large offshore wind farms, system integration, new technology (such as floating wind) and measurements.

For more information, visit
https://www.tno.nl/en/about-tno/organisation/units/energy-transition/wind-energy/

About We4Ce Engineering B.V.

We4Ce is one of the three worldwide leading design offices and expert in the development of rotor blades for the wind industry. We4Ce serves, advises and contributes new technology to wind turbine manufacturers as well as to rotor blade producers worldwide. We4Ce offers 15-25 years of experience in the design, manufacturing and root cause analysis & repair solutions of rotor blades for both onshore and offshore wind turbines.

For more information, visit https://www.we4ce.eu/en

 

Picture taken during kick off of the Power Project with all consortium members and a TouchWind prototype on the background.