University of Oldenburg Announces GW Wakes Project (Germany)

January 13, 2012

University of Oldenburg has announced a joint project “GW Wakes”. This project will investigate wind currents in a very large offshore wind farm with 100 or more wind turbines. The Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) will be funding the project over the next three years with approximately 3.8 million €.

With these funds, researchers can acquire a unique laser-optical remote sensing device that can measure wind turbulence and wind shadow effects. “We are working with three spatially distributed laser devices, the study of synchronized light pulses, the currents and turbulence within a radius of up to eight kilometers,” explains the project leader Dr. Martin Kühn.

Utilization of these devices will make moving pictures of the wind farm critical vortices and turbulence visible what is mainly similar to a medical ultrasound examination.

As part of the project, the efficiency of wind turbines, offshore wind farms and the predictability of wind power production will be further improved.

The project will be conducted on the 400MW Bard 1 offshore wind farm.

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Offshore Wind Staff, January 13, 2012 ; Image: bard-offshore