The annual event of Wind Europe, an association promoting the use of wind power in Europe, was held again in 2023. Although it was also held online during the COVID-2023 pandemic, in 4 it was held entirely in person. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, for three days from April 25th to 27th. Konagaya and Nakasato participated from Rera Tech Inc.. This was Konagaya's first visit to Copenhagen in eight years, and Nakasato's first.
In this technical note, we will report on the key points of Wind Europe 2023 that caught Relatec's attention in two parts.
The venue was lively with a variety of themes and lively discussions
Wind Europe 2023 was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. In April, when the cherry blossoms were in bloom, people in Copenhagen seemed to be basking in the joy of spring as the long, dark winter in the Nordic country of Denmark finally came to an end.
Venue: BELLA CENTER
The venue had five large halls with numerous exhibition booths, and the conference (oral presentations and poster sessions) was held in the adjacent space.
The speakers were from power generation developers, consulting firms, research institutes, etc., and the impression was that most of the content was practical and specialized.
There was lively debate and discussion on a wide range of topics, including trends in the wind market, supply chains, and renewable energy policies, and the content was rich. The session on wind conditions, which is Relatec's main focus, alone lasted about four hours.
A poster session was also held at a separate venue.
Compared to the conferences that tend to focus on practical matters, the poster sessions tended to be more academic and focused on research and development, with presentations from not only companies but also universities and research institutes. There were also many participants from other countries, including Asia and North America, in addition to Europe, and I also saw poster presentations by Japanese participants.
Here are three things that particularly caught my attention after participating in Wind Europe 2023.
Clarifying blockages through large-scale observations
Research into the phenomenon of "blockage," in which power generation is lower than expected when multiple wind turbines are lined up, has progressed further since our report from Wind Europe 2021. There were several presentations announcing that multiple companies have formed a team to work on clarifying the blockage phenomenon and conducted large-scale investigations.
For example, in Japan, when conducting observations for wind condition surveys, dual scanning observations are generally conducted, with two scanning lidars as one set at each site. However, in this presentation, a total of six lidars were used, and I was surprised at the large scale of the observations.
Although the phenomenon of blockage has yet to be fully understood, we hope that through field surveys such as this one, we will be able to quantitatively grasp and evaluate it. Some numerical models have also been supplemented with modules that can actually take the blockage effect into account, and we are also paying attention to verifying the accuracy of these models.
Overview of the observation campaign to clarify the blockage (Rodaway, C., RWE, 2023)
Research using the JIP (Joint Industry Project) method
When conducting research and development in Japan, private companies receive investments and financing, as well as government subsidies and grants. However, in Europe, a unique method called "Joint Industry Project (JIP)" makes it possible to carry out large-scale projects such as the aforementioned investigation into the blockage effect.
The JIP method is a technology development project in which a council made up of power generation companies is formed and multiple private companies contribute development funds. Companies and research institutions with common issues pool their money together to speed up the project, and I have seen many research presentations in which the JIP method has produced results.
I think it will be important to implement the JIP system in Japan from now on. I realized that a system in which all parties involved can work together to overcome major challenges that would be difficult for one company to overcome alone is extremely important for the offshore wind power market to grow properly.
JIP-based structure for investigations into blockages (Rodaway, C., RWE, 2023)
The development of ICT has expanded the scope of data analysis
Operating wind turbines accumulates a huge amount of data. Europe, which is 20 years ahead of Japan in the field of offshore wind power generation, is now at the stage of considering how to utilize that vast amount of data. At this event, there were many presentations not only on wind conditions but also on the use of AI and deep learning.
Particularly in the O&M (operation and maintenance) field, research is being conducted to use AI to analyze data accumulated during operations in order to predict and avoid failures, and there are an increasing number of cases in which AI and deep learning technologies are being used.
One of the reasons behind this is thought to be the widespread use of GPUs, which can process large amounts of data more quickly than CPUs, making it possible to perform large-scale calculations. Verification is also being carried out by combining multiple simulation models and conducting composite analyses, and many analyses that were technically quite difficult were presented.
Furthermore, I saw IT companies participating as official partners and presenting their research. Previously, there were only wind power companies, but I could feel that we are entering the next stage.
Overview of large-scale LES simulations using GPUs (Kantharaju, J., GE, 2023)
As technology advances, it may become possible to take long-term climate changes into account and predict where wind turbines will be located 20 or 30 years into the future.
It can be said that such a wide range of analyses and simulations can be carried out thanks to the sharing of a large amount of data, such as data on wind turbines and wind conditions. Furthermore, research and development, including data sharing, such as the JIP method, is also useful for lowering the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE).
In Japan, it is customary to share data to conduct research and development, but there are almost no examples. It is particularly difficult to obtain examples of data on the ocean, so I think a big challenge going forward will be how to share data and produce research results.
Currently, Relatec is working on the Aomori Prefecture project as part of a NEDO project.New testing site at Mutsu Ogawara PortThis is an effort to create a public environment in Japan where data can be shared, and is one way to solve the data sharing problem.
On the other hand, in Europe,FINOPublic data sharing projects like this have been going on for 20 years now, and now we are implementing large projects with a sense of speed using the JIP method. I was reminded of the strength of this method.
In the second part, we will report on the exhibition and our impressions of visiting a huge offshore wind farm in northern Denmark.
(Continued to the second part)
As wind condition consultants, Rera Tech Inc. will conduct optimal wind condition surveys that combine "observation" and "estimation" for wind power generation. Please feel free to contact us if you have any inquiries regarding wind conditions.
