Zenotech is thrilled to be presenting the results of a ground-breaking wind turbine high fidelity simulation project at WindEurope Conference in Bilbao on 2-4 April. David Standingford and Jamil Appa will be joined by Richard Whiting, from renewables consultancy, Everoze, to discuss the exciting results of this offshore wind energy project and how they could benefit the industry as a whole.
The challenge for wind energy
Traditionally, wind resource assessment for large wind farms has rejected the use of unsteady RANS-based wake interaction models as too time-consuming and expensive to meet the needs of the commercial energy analysis market. Instead, the industry has adapted traditional engineering wake models with empirical model add-ons to address the challenge of modelling larger farms and the highly complex nature of the interactions.
Modern software, running on commodity computing hardware, is however now easily & affordably able to deliver higher fidelity modelling and is capable of addressing previously ignored effects such as the blockage effect of large wind farms.
Game-changing results
Recently this new method was put to the test with impressive results. Zenotech’s CFD solver, zCFD performed effectively in a blind test of a simulation for the energy supplier, SSE at its Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm with independent validation to 2%. The results were by comparison of 72 separate wind speed and direction flow cases against SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) data. Dr Paul Housley from SSE said:
“ZCFD performed well in predicting turbine interactions and wake losses at Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm in a blind test of its modelling capabilities.”
The tools and computing power to perform high fidelity simulations of offshore and onshore wind projects, including wake effects, are now affordable and accessible to the wider industry. The body of evidence from various validation exercises is growing, and we’re at the critical point where these new these methods are becoming the norm.
If you’re going to the WindEurope Conference, do drop by to see the Zenotech team. If you’re interested in chatting more about these findings, get in touch to find out more.
