Full-scale research makes wind power more efficient, cheaper and quieter
Together with partners from the Research Alliance Wind Energy, DLR is constructing a Wind Energy Research Farm referred to as WiValdi – Wind Validation. The location is Krummendeich in Lower Saxony. The research farm is scheduled to go into operation in the course of 2022. As a unique test infrastructure, it enables scientific research to be conducted at full scale. Together with industrial partners, new technologies can be brought into use more quickly – with the goal of making wind power, as a cornerstone of a reliable and sustainable energy system, significantly more efficient and cost-effective, as well as quieter.
Design and site
The research farm will consist of a total of three wind turbines – two state-of-the-art wind turbines WTG 1 and WTG 2, each with an output of 4.26 megawatts – flanked by the meteorological Measurement Mast 1 and the Measurement Mast Array – and a smaller wind turbine WTG 3 with an output of 500 kilowatts, which is supplemented by Measurement Mast 5. Additional instrumentation can be installed in the field for special test campaigns. The data from the research farm is collected and processed in the Control Centre.
Configuration and location
Due to its coastal location, the research farm is fully under the influence of the westerly wind zone. The wind turbines and the upstream meteorological measurement masts are located on a line running west-southwest. In commercial operation, such a configuration is avoided because the turbines ‘shadow’ one another. This means that the downstream wind turbine is in the ‘slipstream’ of the upstream one. After the wind passes the first wind turbine, it is weakened and turbulent in the wake. This turbulence is precisely recorded by the Measurement Mast Array. The second wind turbine works less efficiently in the wake of the first. The researchers are using it to investigate, for example, how precisely the rotor blades must be controlled so that the wind turbine can be operated as efficiently as possible despite challenging wind conditions.
Link:
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Wind Energy Experiments
Lukas Firmhofer | Email lukas.firmhofer@dlr.de
