STW Awards EUR 6.2 Mln for TU Delft Research

The STW Technology Foundation and the business community will make a total of 6.2 million euros available to the UPON (Understanding Processes Using Operando Nanoscopy) and EUROS (Excellence in Uncertainty Reduction of Offshore wind Systems) research programmes.

The first programme focuses on using electron microscopy to study material properties more accurately at the atomic level, while the second programme focuses on cost reduction with the use of offshore wind turbines. UPON and EUROS are led by TU Delft; prof. Henny Zandbergen and prof. Gijs van Kuik are the respective programme leaders.

The other proposal approved by STW is EUROS (Excellence in Uncertainty Reduction of Offshore wind Systems), which has a budget of 3.4 million euros. The current relatively high costs of offshore wind energy are still an obstacle preventing its large-scale application. EUROS therefore focuses on the most important cost factors: design, construction and the logistics of installation and maintenance – with potential savings of 10%. Tools and models that can easily be integrated into existing design and planning software are developed in the EUROS programme.

The key objective of EUROS is the reduction of the uncertainties surrounding design, construction and logistics. The most important uncertainties – which lead to logistical inefficiency and designs that are too conservative – are better defined; physical and mathematical models are developed to identify the consequences of these uncertainties.

EUROS consists of three closely connected projects. The first project is about external conditions. This project should result in advanced probability models for wind and waves (and their connection to each other), better weather forecasts that allow for more logistical planning freedom, and efficient numerical techniques for translating the uncertainties in external conditions into stress on the wind turbines.

The second project concerns loads and damage, and should result in a protocol for smart monitoring, models for establishing the connection between monitoring results and damage, and advanced physical models of the formation of cracks and the occurrence of erosion. The third project focuses on wind farm design optimisation, resulting in integral uncertainty maps at the wind farm level.

The EUROS programme is led by TU Delft; the universities of Wageningen and Eindhoven, as well as ECN, KNMI, TNO, CWI, Deltares, Fugro, DNV-GL, Van Oord, Ballast Nedam, IHC Hydrohammer, Eneco and Heerema are also involved.