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A new generation of wind turbines is opening up the possibilities for wind energy generation in low mountainous regions, valleys and forests in Germany.

© pixabay

Wind farming is undergoing something of a technological growth spurt. A new generation of wind turbines is opening up the possibilities for wind energy generation in low mountainous regions, valleys and forests in Germany. However, with new technology comes new challenges. For example, with larger rotors, greater hub heights and more diverse wind conditions, the need for more complex energy yield forecasting is brought forward.

These days, sophisticated 3D computer modelling is used to make sense of highly convoluted data sets regarding wind conditions for forecasting purposes, but the accuracy of these models must be improved to support the expansion of wind power generation in the future.

To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) in Bremen, northwest Germany, is leading the EWiNo project in cooperation with leading industrial partners including the energy producer ENERTRAG and GEO-NET GmbH, an environmental energy and meteorology technology company, with funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi), in accordance with the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) amendment of 2017. EWiNo will be a two-stage procedure for the assessment of a number of wind sites across the whole country (not just the blowy north) regarding their future potential for wind energy.

A new technology has been developed to improve the accuracy of modelling. A so-called “scanning LiDAR” (an improvement on the standard LiDAR or measuring mast models) now makes it possible to measure wind conditions at every point of the wind farm. The data will then be applied to different 3D models such as FITNAH-3D and OpenFOAM to simulate and zoptimise wind energy flow.

ENERTRAG is providing one of the first development sites in northern Hesse, which offers ideal research conditions for the use of the scanning LiDAR.