Supergen Wind Hub

The EU has a binding target of 20% of energy to come from renewables by 2020, with an associated CO2 emissions reduction target of 20% (relative to 1990) and a 20% reduction on energy usage by the same date. This is the so-called 20/20/20 target. The UK's target is for 15% of energy to be sourced from renewables by this date. For this target to be met, over 30% of electricity will need to be generated from renewables and it is anticipated that 31GW of this will come from wind power with 13GW onshore and 18GW offshore by 2020 to 40GW of offshore wind power capacity could be installed by 2030. At present 6GW of wind power have been installed onshore and 3GW offshore. Because of environmental concerns, the development of onshore wind power in the UK is being constrained making the cost-effective and reliable offshore development ever more important. To increase offshore capacity by at least a factor of five in seven years, whilst minimising the cost of energy, presents very significant design, operational and logistical challenges. Within the above context and in the longer term, wind farms and wind turbines will be sited further offshore in deeper water and become bigger.

The proposed Supergen Wind Hub brings together leading wind energy academic research groups in UK to address the medium term challenges of scaling up to multiple wind farms, considering how to better build, operate and maintain multi-GW arrays of wind turbines whilst providing a reliable source of electricity whose characteristics can be effectively integrated into a modern power system such as that in the UK. The wind resource over both short and long terms, the interaction of wakes within a wind farm and the turbine loads and their impact on reliability will all need to be better understood. The layout of the farms, including foundations, impact on radar and power systems and shore-connection issues, will need to be optimised. The most effective and efficient operation of wind farms will require them to act as virtual conventional power plants flexibly responding to the current conditions, the wind turbines' state and operational demands and grid-integration requirements. The programme of research for the Supergen Wind Energy Hub will focus on all of the above, both at the level of single farms and of clusters of farms.

One of the initially most visible aspects of communication will be bi-annual General Assemblies in which the consortium will present its progress to an open audience from the Associate Partners, companies and external specialists. Every second General Assembly will be annual events open to all stakeholders.

European Wind Energy research is dominated by a relatively small number of very large research institutions strongly connected to the wind industry, such as DTU Wind, formerly Riso National Laboratory, ECN, Fraunhofer IWES, CENER. Supergen Wind will continue to grow its connections to these major institutions to consolidate and further strengthen its impact on the European research scene through the following means.

European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE): EAWE is a consortium of the leading European Wind Energy research Universities that has a strong influence on setting the academic research agenda. The EAWE will provide a natural route for Supergen Wind Hub to engage and influence the university based European Wind Energy research agenda.

European Energy Research Alliance Joint Programme Wind (EERA JP Wind): EERA JP Wind is a collaboration of prominent European Wind Energy research Institutions. Its objective is to accelerate industry driven initiatives by looking at the Strategic Research Agenda and implementing the underpinning research required to address the challenges identified by the European Industrial Initiative on Wind Energy in the Wind Energy Roadmap. EERA JP Wind will provide a natural route for Supergen Wind Hub to engage and influence the industry-driven European Wind Energy research agenda.

International Energy Agency (IEA): Staff within the Hub have represented the UK in the IEA and contributed to various completed and on-going Annexes of the Agency related to wind energy Through the proposed Supergen Wind Hub, this strong international presence will be maintained.

The engagement with the UK academic sector will primarily be through the networking activities of the Supergen Wind Hub. However it is recognised that the Centres for Doctoral Training have an increasingly important role. Several of the proposed CDTs listed on the EPSRC website are directly relevant to the scope of Supergen Wind Hub, in particular, the DTC in Wind and Marine Energy Systems led by Leithead (Strathclyde) and the DTC in Marine Structures led by Brennan (Cranfield). Should these be successful, it is intended to collaborate closely with them.

All the partners in the proposed Supergen Wind Hub have strong links to the wind industry. These direct engagements with industry will be augmented by the establishment of an Industry Advisory Board (IAB). The IAB will meet every 6 months and will provide a forum for dissemination of Supergen Wind Hub activities.

Technology Strategy Board funded Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE Catapult): The ORE Catapult has been established to accelerate the growth and commercialisation of offshore wind, wave and tidal technologies. ORE Catapult is a natural route for Supergen Wind Hub to engage and with the ORE Catapult and through it the offshore wind sector in the UK.

Energy Technologies Institute (ETI): The ETI is a government-industry funded institution to accelerate the deployment of low-carbon energy technologies into the mix. The Supergen Wind Hub will continue contributing and supporting the ETI in the future as necessary.

Since there is a widely recognised skills gap in Wind Energy, a further pathway to impact will be through the provision of highly trained engineers, expert in wind energy. Most of these will be expected to take up posts in the growing commercial wind sector, and quickly rise to positions of leadership and influence.